Organizational Culture Essay

In 1986, Steve job purchased the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm for $10 million and established the independent company called Pixar. Ed Catmull as the co-founder and chief technical officer of Pixar. At that time, there are about 44 people are emplyed at Pixar. Pixar Animation Studios is an Academy Award  ®-winning computer animation studio with the technical, creative and production capabilities to create a new generation of animated feature films, merchandise and other related products. Pixar’s objective is to combine proprietary technology and world-class creative talent to develop computer-animated feature films with memorable characters and heartwarming stories that appeal to audiences of all ages. In November 22, 1995, Pixar Animation Studios forever impacted the future of filmmaking, storytelling and the medium of animation with the release of its first feature film, Disney ·Pixar’s Toy Story. After Pixar founded nine years ago, Toy Story exhibited years of creative and technical achievements from a small group of passionate computer scientists and animators, led by present day President Ed Catmull and Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter. After Toy story released in 1995, Pixar Animation Studios cooperated with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures to create and produce another feature film such as A Bug’s Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Monsters, Inc. 2001), Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Cars (2006), Ratatouille (2007), WALL-E (2008), Up (2009) and Toy Story 3 (2010). Pixar is one of the successful company which climb to the pinnacle of computer animation was a quick one and the company continues to push the envelope in its art and technology inspired moviemaking endeavors. (Pixar, 2012) Issue Identified Pixar is one of the successful corporation in the world. Pixar is famous on creative and it is important breakthroughs in the application of compute r graphics (CG) for filmmaking. Also, Pixar has attracted some of the world’s finest talent in this area. Since 1986, The technical and creative teams of Pixar have collaborated to developed a wealth of production software used in-house to create its movies and further the state of the art in CG movie making. This proprietary technology allows the production of animated images of a quality, richness and vibrancy that are unique in the industry, and above all, allows the director to precisely control the end results in a way that is exactly right for the story. Pixar continues to invest heavily in its software systems and believes that further advancements will lead to additional productivity and quality improvements in the making of its computer animated films. Moreover, Pixar can climb quickly to the pinnacle of cuomputer animation throght creative. Therefore, in this report, I would find out the reason that Why Pixar’s culture is related to creative? Nowadays, If some one talking about Pixar, they must concerned creative in the process. People know Pixar would related to creative. In opppsite, People know creative also would related to Pixar. Therefore, Pixar is important for the creative and the industry. It seems Pixar and creative as a body, they can’t separate each other and they were interact each other. For example, Pixar produced their feature films thorugh their creative and technology team. Thinking in-depth, If the Pixar’s creative and technology are not talent to creation, could the Pixar climbed to the pinnacle of computer animation quickly? Could the Pixar successful in the industry? That all of examples are the assumption, but I think that creative is one of the critical elements for the development of Pixar. Therefore why this report wanted to find out the reason of why Pixar’s culture is related to creative through some theorey. Theoretical Framework For find out the reason that why Pixar’s culture is related to creative, I would use some theorey as reference to find out the reason. The theoretical framework adoted in this report is Mckinsey’s 7s. Although there are other theoretical could be use but why i would use Mckinsey’s 7s. Some theoretical look at internal factors, others look at external ones, some combine these perspectives, and others look for congruence between various aspects of the organization being studied(McKinsey’s 7s model, 2005). However, Mckinsey’s 7s model was developed by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman in 1980 which cannot really be considered as a pure strategy model, but rather as a way of thinking about development or remodelling of organizations. Its name comes from the seven factors that Tom Peters and Robert Waterman found essential in the context of organization development: strategy, skills, shared values, structure, systems, staff and style (Joe Cheal, 2008). Also, The Mckinsey’s 7s model is very useful tool for analysing and diagnosing organisational issues, and then for the planning of interventions and change (Joe Cheal, 2008). In the first phase of the Mckinsey’s 7s model is usually determined. The next step is to define what the organization must be especially good at in order to be able to implement its strategy, in other words, what skills it must develop or otherwise acquire. The final step is to determine what changes are needed in the other five factors to make the change a successful one (McKinsey’s 7s model,2005). The advantage of the Mckinsey’s 7s model is its simplicity and immediacy, and then in the complexity that follows by understanding that these components do not stand alone, but work in relationship to one another (Joe Cheal, 2008). The model involves seven interdependent factors which are categorized as either â€Å"hard† or â€Å"soft† elements. For â€Å"hard† elements including strategy, structure and systems. For â€Å"soft† elements including shared values, skills, style and staff [pic] For the â€Å"hard† elements, the Strategy refers to the plan devised to maintain and build competitive advantage over the competition. Moreover, it is known of the concepts relating to organizational change. The structure refers to the way that organization is structured and who reports to whom. The systems defined as the procedures or processes which exist in a company and which involve many people for the purpose of identifying important issues, getting things done or making decisions such as daily activities and procedures that staff members engage in to get the job done. Also, it is important things that system could strongly influence on the company and it is power tools of management for decision making. For the â€Å"soft† elements, the shared values refers to the core values of the company that are evidenced in the corporate culture and the general work ethic. The skills refers to actual skills and competencies of the employees working for the company. The Staff defined as the employees and their general capabilities. Also, it is concerned with the question of what kind of people the company needs. This is not so much a question of single individuals as of the total know-how possessed by the people in the organization. Last, the style defined as the style of leadership adopted and it could be influence the style of the company performance (Joe Cheal, 2008). Main Body Pixar Animation Studios was succeed since Pixar created the first new generation of animated feature films, Toy Story which obtain the awards and it was the breakthrough to the computer animations. Regarding to the structure of Pixar, the begining of the Pixar since 1986, Steve job purchased the computer graphics division of Lacusfilm and established the indepentent company called Pixar. Also, Ed. Catmull as the co-founder and the chief technical office of Pixar and that time. Moreover, Ed. Catmull attracted John Lasseter who is working in the Disney (Mark Henne, 1996). Now, Ed.  Catmull is the president and co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios and president of Walt Disney Animation Studios. And John Lasseter is the Chief Creative Officer, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studio, Principal Creative Advisor, Walt Disney Imagineering (Pixar, 2012). They were devoted to the Pixar such as Pixar’s talent of computer animations to led the succeed of creating the first feature films, Toy Story. Till to recently, Pixar is the leader in the industry. Pixar produced many famous feature films through their creative. Also, Pixar can obtain subtantial advantage through all of successful feature film. For example, Pixar can obtain the revenue as $362 million of the Toy Story. Also, Pixar can obtain the reputation such as Academy Award while produced the famous feature film (Datamonitor, 2004). The strategy of the Pixar is the design of the company and the work space. Why the work space’s design would be the strategy. It is the distinctive of Pixar. For example, the work space of â€Å"Cars 2† director and Pixar creative head, Lasster which is blast of color, plastic and nostalgia, filled floor-to-ceiling with so many toys it’s hard for the brain to process. Also, the president of Pixar, Ed.  Catmull’s work space is modest space looks colorless by comparison, with some chairs, a table, a desk and no clutter(Peter Hartlaub, 2011). It seems like that a simply open office design but it is important of the strategy. Most employees like worked in Pixar because Pixar could gave them freedom such as communicate wilth anyone, they work as the familiar so they enjoy to work in the Pixar. Moreover, creative is important for Pixar and each employees so the strategy of Pixar is make each of employees enjoy the company, the work space, the environment (Ed. Catmull, 2008). Also, Ed.  Catmull, the president of Pixar who is bearded comes to work in jeans and a short-sleeved black button-down shirt (Peter Hartlaub, 2011). He wears look like casual and employees also can wears casual that what is creative. Employees didn’t face to pressure and easily to involve the work and perfect integration with other employees when they were brain storming and produce the successful feature films. The systems is the dailies of the Paxir. It is the practice working of daily reviews and dailies, which is a process for giving and getting constant feedback in a positive way. This process is John Lasseter learnt from Disney and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). When John Lasseter joined Paxir and Paxir build up an animation crew for Toy Story. John Lasseter used the process of daily reviews where learnt from Disney and ILM. Then, John Lasseter used what he learnt to develop Paxir’s daily reviews process (Ed. Catmull, 2008). In the process, anyone were encouraged to comment and showed the incomplete state to the whole animation crew. There are several advantages of the process. First, everyone would be more creative after everyone showing the work still in progress. Second, the director or creative lead guidling the review process can communicate and focus on the important points to the whole animation crew at the same time. Third, everyone can learnt from and influence each other. Also, highly creative piece of animation will spark others to raise their game. Last, everyone’s overwhelming desire to make sure their work is good when showing to other and the finished version is possibility that won’t be what the director wants. The daily review process avoids such wasted effort (Ed. Catmull, 2008). The staff of Pixar can defined as three part respectively recruitment, contracts and Pixar University. First, the recruiting standard of Ed. Catmull is extremely special. Ed. Catmull always hired employees by their talent. For example, Ed. Catmull always hired some one who is better than himself such as John Lasseter (Ed. Catmull, 2008). In general, most company wouldn’t hired some one who better than CEO or president because it is threaten for CEO or president. Second, the employees in the Pixar weren’t hired by contracts or signed by contracts. According to Randy S. Nelson, who joined the company in 1997 and is dean of Pixar University. Mr. Nelson said contract allow employees irresponsible as a company. Also, there have the excellent things created in Pixar which incredible workspace, opportunities to learn and grow, most of all greatest co-worker is better than any contract (William C. Taylor & Polly LaBarre, 2006). It is why Pixar wouldn’t need to signed contract of each employees. Last, the Pixar university is one of the improtant thing for training the employees. Every employees even an animator, technician, director, president or other positions in company is encouraged to develop up to four hours per week for a training. In the class, employees might be set next to the direcotr or president. It is also the way of creative. Moreover, Pixar is encouraged even accountants also need to learn drawing. Mr Nelson said drawing class not only teach drawing, it teaches how to improve their observation (William C. Taylor & Polly LaBarre, 2006). The skill of Pixar generally is the breakthroughs in the application of computer graphics (CG) for filmmaking. Also, Pixar has attracted some of the world’s finest talent in this area such as John Lesseter who is hired by Ed. Catmull. Pixar’s technical and creative team have collaborated since 1986 to develop a wealth of production software used in-house to create its movies and further the state of the art in CG movie making. The proprietary technology allows animated images of a quality, richness and vibrancy that are unique in the industry. Also, Pixar continuity to investment on their proprietary technology cause Pixar believes that they can improve the quality of making computer animations by their skills (Pixar, 2012). Moreover, there are important dynamic created by John Lesseter: â€Å"Technology inspires art, and art challenges the technology. The other one might feel that it is a sentence, it just a word. But for Pixar’s technology and creative team, they believes that it is a way of life had to be established and still has to be constantly reinforced. Also, all of the employess in Pixar believes that the technology integrated with art would produce to magic. The magic of the animation, the magic of the creative (Ed. Catmull, 2008). In generally, the style of Pixar must be creative. But, What is the creative come from? The style refers to leadership of Ed. Catmull, according to the above, Ed. Catmull is the president of Pixar. , the style would refered by Ed.  Catmull who is wearing casual and created the modest work space. Moreover, the style of Pixar is full creative and casual, Pixar gave subordinates freefom but not indulge cause relax could lead employees bring talent and creative into full play. Therefore, Pixar give everyone must have freedom to communicate with anyone. Also, when employees offer ideas it must be safe for everyone. For example, employees make a concerted effort to make it safe to criticize by inviting everyone attending these showings to e-mail notes to the creative leaders that detail what they liked and didn’t like and explain why. Moreover, employees must stay close to innovations happening in the academic community. For example, Pixar recommended their technical artists to publish their research and participate to in industry conferences. Although the publish may leak out the ideas but Pixar can keep connection of academic community. It can helps Pixar can attract exceptional talent and reinforces the belief throughout the company that people are more important than ideas (Ed. Catmull, 2008). The shared value of the Pixar that it is clearly in the people development business — going to great lengths to nourish, support, creative and fun for its employees. That means Pixar is the company that focus on the development and the fun. For example, in the Pixar, there had stage is set with Steve Jobs’s inspired design of the curved metal roof resembling an airplane hangar, and the open-air â€Å"incredible-sized† atrium that serves as a â€Å"town square† for impromptu meetings, company celebrations, and just plain having fun. Also, the Pixar university provide training for each of the employees which four hours per week. It is because Pixar focus on developments. Pixar hoped their employees could maintain the competitive, improve their talent and make employess closer as familiar such as when employees could find president Ed. Catmull in a class at Pixar university. This is why Pixar identified as people development business. Also, there are so much fun in the Pixar. For example, employees of Pixar had a lot of freedom such as they could communicate with anyone and they weren’t signed any contracts. Moreover, they never considerd to leave away of Pixar. It is because they enjoy this work, they enjoy this work style and this shared value where Pixar had (Bill Capodagli & Lynn Jackson, 2010). Conclusion In conclude, Pixar is the creativity and development company which was Steve Job established. Also, Pixar is the successful company of breakthroughs of the computer graphics for producing the feature films which climbed to the pinnacle of computer animation quickly. It is the reason of Pixar shared value. The shared value of Pixar is development to the employees and the fun. The Pixar university lead Pixar to be succeed that provide the continuously training for the employees four hours per week. For example, The university provided the drawing course for the employees whether you are animator or accountant. It is because Pixar believes that drawing can help everyone enhanced their observation and high observation can helped emplyees lead to perfect performance. On the other hand, the creative of Pixar concerned the fun of shared value. Pixar is the modest and the most creative company in the computer animation industry. Firts, the workspace’s design in the Pixar is unique and is modest. It can give the special environment to employees and animation for employees who were working in the Pixar. Second, employees of Pixar have most enough freedom that they could communicate with anyone. It can give employees shares their ideas, working progress and they can form a small team to showing their work, brain storming in any time. Third, each of employees of Pixar aren’t signed the contract. It is because Pixar believes that contract led employees irresponsible for company and lack of freedom of employees. It is the reason that why Pixar have a fun. Last but not least, the Pixar produced the feature films through the creativity. It is the talent of the Pixar and there are many feature films were succeed in the world such as the first feature film, Toy Story which obtain the Academy Award, substantial revenue and the reputation to the Pixar. It is reasons that why Pixar need the creative. Pixar couldn’t lost creative, also creative couldn’t lost creative. It is because Pixar and Creative are relatively indispensable. If people wanted to know Pixar, then people must know the creative first cause creative is the gatekeeper of Pixar. Moreover, Pixar is the company improved by creative which the culture is build on the creative. In simply, known Pixar, known Creative. If anyone want to joined the Pixar. , the first critical requirement is talent. Why is not creative? It Is becuase Pixar always recruit the best people and Pixar believes that after you joined Pixar, Pixar can provide the training, the environment that developing the own unique creative progressively. Therefore, Pixar is the most creative company in the industry and Pixar and Creativity wouldn’t separate each other.

Organizational behavior of HK Disneyland Essay

Introduction Hong Kong Disneyland, opened to visitors in 2005, is one of the two largest theme parks in Hong Kong. It successfully brings magical experience of Walt Disney to all the visitors just like other Disneyland around the world. Hong Kong Disneyland has created a culture for their employees with open communication with their managers and subordinates, professional training, and rewards. This philosophy of treating employees well has long been adopted by Walt Disney for many years. The belief of Walt Disney is that you can have joyful guests as long as you have employees who enjoy working for Disneyland and bringing happiness to visitors. With the comprehensive training for each employee, they make all visitors  experience a memorable magical moment. No matter the cast of Disney characters, or the people working in Disneyland’s restaurants or hotels, all of them receive comprehensive training. This training can ensure that every Disney employee can work together as a team, and provide excellent customer services to cater for their customers’ needs. In this report, we will illustrate how Disneyland incorporates organizational behavior concepts to create a culture for their employees where they feel satisfactory for their work environment and feel that they are important to the team. Motivation and learning are two main focuses in our research. We will also provide suggestions on how Disneyland can further improve in terms of organizational culture. Motivation Hong Kong Disneyland has many ways to motivate its employees to work. Our team is going to apply Theory X and Theory Y, Herzberg’s two-factor theory, and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need these three theories to analyze the employee motivation methods of Hong Kong Disneyland Theory X and Theory Y Here is a brief introduction on the Theory X before the application on Disneyland. Theory X based on pessimistic assumptions. It is impediment to employee morale and productivity. For example, it assumed that labors are inherently lazy and avoid to work, only interested in money and in need of close supervision. Also, they would have little ambition without incentive programs, avoid responsibility and need to be driven through control systems. So, once the manager adopting this theory, they will end everything in blame without evaluating the situation, structure the work, energize the employees and also in authoritarian style based on the threat of punishment. Here comes to the application on theory X. According to the spokesperson of Disneyland, Angela Bliss, Disney employees have to adhere to strict guidelines and rules for their behavior and appearance. Once hired, they have to maintain the â€Å"Disney Look, and the Disney look is a fresh, clean and  approachable look, ensuring that every guest feels comfortable with our entire cast. Therefore, â€Å"Cast members,† Disney’s way of referring to their employees, receive a â€Å"Disney look book† that details all of the requirements, emphasizing a natural look with natural hair color and makeup. The purpose in doing this is to keep the focus on the ‘show’ and not on the individual cast member. Besides, a cast member with purple hair may not appear approachable to all of their guests. According to Disney rules, anytime a cast member confronts a guest who appears lost or frazzled, the employee must offer their help and point them in the right direction. Pointing must always be done with either two fingers or the full hand. So, the above showed that the workers in Disney are suffered serious and high intensive instructions and rules by the theory X style managers. What’s more, with reference to the article by Jason Garcia, Orlando Sentinel on November 16, 2010, The Walt Disney Co. has issued a new policy banning employees from texting while driving on the job. The ban applies to all of the Burbank, Calif.-based entertainment giant’s worldwide employees — including its roughly 60,000 workers at Walt Disney World. The policy, which recently took effect, also prohibits employees from making or receiving phone calls while driving on the job unless they use a single earpiece. It applies to workers who are either driving company vehicles or using their own vehicles while on the job. Disney punishments for workers caught violating the driving policy will be decided on case-by-case basis. The policy does not apply to employees during their drives to or from work. In short, the evidences above status that the management of theory X style, use to set up regulations and punishments to motivate their ‘‘actors’’. On the other hand, here comes to the theory Y. On the contrary, it based on positive assumptions, and also more positive view of workers and the possibilities that create. For instance, they assumed that employees are ambitious, self-motivated and anxious to accept greater responsibility. Employees exercise self-control, self-direction, autonomy and empowerment,  also exercise creativity and become forward looking. So, once the managers are adopted this theory, they believes that people want to do well at work, have a pool of unused creativity and that the satisfaction of doing a job is in itself motivating. Here comes to the application on theory Y. The Walt Disney Co focuses on creating a culture in which employees can flourish and find meaning in their work. Together with more than 10,000 online reference materials and resources, instructor-led classes, performance support systems, and education reimbursement for job-related degree programs, The Walt Disney Company offers an array of tools. From the website of The Walt Disney Co., they claimed that ‘It takes a special kind of person to work at The Walt Disney Company. Our employees and cast members contribute to the success of our many brands in a way no other company can match. That is why our employees and cast members are the most valuable part of our organization. But we know your life isn’t just about work. You have additional things going on – family, friends, personal interests, education and more. The Walt Disney Company offers a comprehensive total rewards package that helps you live your best life, grow p ersonally and professionally, and get rewarded for the results you deliver. The programs, benefits and perks you receive as an employee or cast member may vary based on where you live and work. But when you add it all up, the total package provides the same results: your total rewards support you throughout all stages of your life and career.’ Herzberg’s two-factor theory The two-factor theory states that there are certain factors in the workplace that cause job satisfaction, while a separate set of factors cause dissatisfaction. The theory suggests that to improve job attitudes and productivity, administrators must recognize and attend to both sets of characteristics and not assume that an increase in satisfaction leads to decrease in not pleasurable dissatisfaction. Two-factor theory distinguishes between motivators and hygiene factors based on the notion that the presence of one set of job characteristics or incentives leads to worker satisfaction at work, while another and separate  set of job characteristics leads to dissatisfaction at work. Therefore, satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not on a continuum with one increasing as the other diminishes, but are independent phenomena. Motivators such as challenging work, achievements, recognition, responsibility, or anything else that given positive satisfaction, arising from intrinsic conditions of the job itself, which is based on the long lasting working environment but not short-lasting achievement. The Walt Disney Company offers a comprehensive total rewards package that helps employee live better life, grow personally and professionally, and get rewarded for the results they deliver, for example, there are incentive and special recognition programs which includes quality of work, length of service, community volunteerism and employee of the month recognition. Reward will be varied by company, job status, location and/or the terms of any applicable collective bargaining agreement. The company have a diverse workforce is critical to the business. Variety of opinions, ideas and perspectives to ensure staff and their managers continue to top the performance and represent the company’s global marketplace. When employee reflects the communities, it can enhance the way for them connect to guests, audiences and consumers. Employee can feel that they work toward an inclusive environment that fosters creativity, innovation and camaraderie across all of the Disney companies. The c ulture can also inspire the workers. For instance, they are committed to a tradition of innovation and technology. Employee can be easily given job satisfaction from setting a high standard of excellence and maintain high-quality standards across all product categories. Apart from that, working in The Walt Disney Company can always enjoy in the joyful atmosphere as the entertainment is about hope, aspiration and positive outcomes, they can create positive and inclusive ideas about families and provide entertainment experiences for all generations to share. The rewarding, inclusive and supportive work environment is committed by the company. Thus, the staffs are able to gain satisfaction from working in Disney. Hygiene factors, for example, status, job security, salary, work conditions,  the benefits for employee, that do not give positive satisfaction, though dissatisfaction results from their absence. The Walt Disney Company provides employee base salaries with the total compensation opportunity and health and wellness benefits which includes medical, Disney Health Pursuits Wellness resources, Employee Assistance Program (EAP), behavioral health, prescription drug coverage, dental, healthcare and dependent day care flexible spending accounts, accident and disability Insurance, long-term care insurance. Besides, the employee can have enough time off working in Disney. They can have 11 paid holidays per year, vacation, sick pay and short-term disability, leaves of absence, bereavement and jury duty, personal life resources, group legal plan, adoption assistance program and onsite childcare centers. Moreover, they can also enjoy the retirement and financial benefits. 401(k) savings plan wi th company match, retirement savings plan for salaried employees and employee stock purchase program would be included. Also, they can enjoy special extras which are complimentary theme park admissions, employee discounts, merchandise discounts at Disney-owned stores, company-sponsored events and services, Disney employee matching gifts, commuter assistance program and many other unique advantages. Last but not least, some world-class training programs are customizable for employee to join such as professional development, management and leadership development, computer skills, business immersion programs and individual career development as the company encourages staff to learn and reach their goals. To sum up, the Herzberg’s two-factor theory can be applied into The Walt Disney Company as motivators and hygiene factors can be found in the policy of the company and working environment. It can satisfy both motivators and hygiene factors of employee and that is the reason staffs enjoy to work there. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need Maslow’s theory relates motivation to a hierarchy of needs. At the bottom are essential physiological needs such as air, food, shelter and clothing. As individuals satisfy one level of need, their motivations change as they aspire to reach the higher order needs. Therefore, to motivate an individual Maslow suggests that it is necessary to know where within the hierarchy each  employee is placed so that these factors can be taken into account. Physiological needs – Hong Kong Disneyland offers competitive salaries. This gives employees the means to acquire the basic needs for living. Also, provide benefits programme to employees which suit them. These benefits and competitive salaries help workers’ pay go further and so motivate them to be loyal to the company. In Hong Kong Disneyland, empolyees can earn more than just a pay-check and will receive a total rewards package that consists of different types of compensation and benefits, such as: Cast exclusive MTR discount scheme Comprehensive group medical insurance, including outpatient, hospitalisation, specialist, Chinese herbalist and dental services Group life and group personal accident insurance Discretionary gratuity Paid annual leave, maternity leave, marriage leave and examination leave Overtime payment for frontline overtime eligible positions Overnight shift premium Laundry services for uniforms and costume Safety needs – Hong Kong Disneyland values the safety of all employees. It is committed to providing a safe and healthy work environment to prevent accidents. Hong Kong Disneyland provides a clear rule and regulation to employees. For example, how to access the control of the machines; therefore employees are accountable to create a safe working environment too – that means they have to take responsibility for observing the health and safety rules and practices. Hong Kong Disnetland also offers employees a range of working patterns. For example, it provide a flexible working schedule, some employees may want to work as a part-time, they can choose among the schedule. This helps employees to choose the best option for a healthy work-life balance. Social needs – These are associated with a feeling of belonging. These provide informal opportunities for employees to get along with each other. This helps strengthen teams and enhances workers’ sense of belonging. Having an open approach to communication keeps everybody focused on the Hong Kong Disneyland’s aims helps individuals contribute to the company. In Hong Kong Disneyland, there is a RACE Club which provides a variety of interest programs, instructor-led courses and outdoor recreational activities for cast members and their family and friends. The RACE Club strives to promote diversity and work-life balance for cast members. It is also a platform for passionate and talented cast members to unleash their potential by being program instructors. Esteem – All employees in Hong Kong Disneyland have a need to be respected and to respect themselves. Esteem is the normal employees desire to be accepted and valued by others. Employees need to engage themselves in activities, to gain recognition and a sense of contribution. Esteem needs can intersect with motivation in the Hong Kong Disneyland too. For example, employees’ voice will be heard at the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. Cast members are welcome to share any feedback employees may have with the Cast Advisory Council (CAC). The CAC meets regularly to listen to cast member feedback and make suggestions to improve the working environment. Self-actualisation – Hong Kong Disneyland provides employees with the opportunity to take on challenging and stimulating responsibilities. This enables them to develop and improve. Hong Kong Disneyland offers more than 100 instructor-led programs to all cast members, including the Operations and Professional Teams. As a full time cast member, Employees can receive an average of 35 training hours per year to help them excel in their career. Typical instructor-led training courses include: Classes for All Cast Members: Disney Traditions Training Communicating Effectively in the Workplace Giving and Receiving Feedback in Disney Style Influencing Team Members as a Role Model Good Show Begins with Me Classes for All Managers: Coaching for Win-Win Outcome Problem Solving & Decision Making Skills Time Management Seminars and conferences hosted by Guest Speakers Learning Organizational Learning in Disneyland Learning in Disneyland take parts in three aspects, it includes Disney University, DU Learningland and Emerging Leader Program. 1. Disney University The Disney University (DU) offers more than 100 instructor-led programs to all cast members, including the Operations and Professional Teams. As a full time cast member, people can receive an average of 35 training hours per year to help them excel in their career. This also acts as a guide to providing world-class service to our guests. Typical instructor-led training courses include: Classes for All Cast Members: -Disney Traditions Training -Communicating Effectively in the Workplace -Giving and Receiving Feedback in Disney Style -Influencing Team Members as a Role Model Classes for All Managers: -Coaching for Win-Win Outcome -Problem Solving & Decision Making Skills -Time Management -Seminars and conferences hosted by Guest Speakers 2. DU Learningland The DU Learningland provides a wide variety of self-learning materials to study at workers own pace. There are about 1,000 collections including Disney feature films and books on career development as well as personal growth. 3. Emerging Leaders Program Hong Kong Disneyland Emerging Leaders Program can help workers develop for future leadership roles at the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. The six-month program focuses on developing your core leadership competencies. During the training, workers and other cast members work on group projects, attend classroom training and do on-the-job shadowing with a Guest Service Manager. Current situation of learning aspects in Hong Kong Disneyland 1. Explicit knowledge Explicit knowledge is Knowledge that is articulated through language, such as documents. Hong Kong Disneyland provides training to its workers. With the aim to progress along a steep learning curve, Disneyland offers learning opportunities for the trainees, including classroom training that give workers guidelines of the way workers should behave. 2. Tacit knowledge Tacit knowledge refers to knowledge acquired through observation and direct experience. From the recruitment post of Hong Kong Disneyland, it suggests that previous work experience at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort (e.g. Part Time Host / Internship) or any other Disney theme parks will be considered as an added advantage. This proves the workers are likely to have some experience of welcoming guest before they enter the firm. Moreover, abundant mentorship and mentoring workshops are offered to colleagues so that that new workers can have deeper understanding about Hong Kong Disneyland more easily. 3. Skills Most of the job offered in Hong Kong Disneyland requires that applicants should have excellent command of English and Chinese, including spoken Cantonese and Mandarin. Despite the language requirement, Hong Kong Disneyland further requires candidates have the ability to demonstrate strong computer proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, familiarity with Apple presentation products, and willingness to learn new software programs Generally, Language skills and computer skills are the two fundamental skills that Hong Kong Disneyland is looking for. 4. Attitude Hong Kong Disneyland demands that workers should demonstrate outgoing personality with good communication skill. Moreover, applicants should be those that are energetic, strong team-players and passionate about Disney. That is to say, Hong Kong Disneyland tries to let co-workers to imagine working for an organization that brings smiles to millions every year, or working with people whose passion for what they do is simply indescribable. Problems of Disney Learning Style From the above description, we find that Disneyland provide extensive training program to their employees. These training programs have equipped their employees with basic knowledge on facilitating daily operation of Disneyland; however, these training programs do not equip employees with creativity on how to make their service better. In other word, the training programs of Disneyland do not give enough reinforcement to their employees. Reinforcement is classified into two categories: positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement occurs when positive consequence is presented to a desired behavior while negative reinforcement refers to the presentation of negative consequence to undesired behavior. Both operant conditioning and classical conditioning state that extinction of particular behavior will occurs if reinforcement is no longer presented upon the completion of behavior which is previously reinforced. Moreover, social learning theory also suggested that human will learn though observing because of self-reinforcement. In other words, reinforcement has played a very important role in every types of learning. Without reinforcement of desirable behavior and severe punishment of misbehavior, employees may not have any incentive to perform better. Some of them may even lose their incentive to maintain their expected performance and withdraw from Disneyland. This may lead to severe consequences Disneyland in a few aspects. First, with employee losing their work incentives, there will be a reduction of average customer service quality. As Disneyland aims to bring the greatest experience to its customer, their reputation as the world most famous theme park may be harmed. Moreover, if employees resign from Disneyland frequently, the turnover rate of staff is high. In this case, not  only the cost of training newly join staff will increase, the time of training new staff will also be boost as every Disneyland staff needs to receive sufficient training before they become available to work. With the total c ost increase in a great proportion, this will lead to a loss of comparative advantage of Disneyland. To solve the problems mentioned above, Disneyland may need to provide enough external reinforcement and self-reinforcement to their employees. Suggestions 1) Since Disneyland is a service industry, their staffs are required to provide high-quality customer services. And this kind of customer service is not only an explicit knowledge, but also a tacit knowledge. That is, knowledge acquired through observation and direct experience, it cannot be obtained directly through knowledge, such as document. Explicit knowledge is provided by Disney University, while tacit knowledge can be learnt from on-job training, new worker are asked to observe their mentor and learn. At the same time, employees are required to deal with different scenarios to obtain customer satisfaction, and they can only learn through real-time experience since there are many unexpected situations happened in reality. So, extensive training can just provide the existing and past experience to their employees and after they obtained the explicit knowledge from Disney University, they can apply it to customers and make a change to satisfy customers with different needs. And this implies practice makes perfect, only through dealing with actual cases with continuing improvement to obtain a high-quality customer service and that is a tacit knowledge. 2) Positive reinforcement can be used since it occurs when a positive outcome follows a desired behavior. In this case, desired behavior will be the high quality service provided by employees, positive outcome can be bonus and commissions. It is the common way for manager to create learning among their employees, and it becomes the motivator for employees to provide a better service in order to achieve the target set by Disneyland. Before the positive outcome launched, employees will less be motivated since they think there is no problem to work as usual. But after having this positive  outcome, it will motivate employees to provide a better customer service as they want to get the bonus based on the checkpoint set by Disneyland which is related to themselves, the monetary benefit. So, it can create a win-win outcome that Disneyland can continue to have a positive reputation and a continuing improvement on customer relationship through the effort provided by employees, at the same time employees can receive bonus as rewards to affirm their effort directly. Employees can learn from social learning theory. First, behavioral modeling and learning behavior consequences are observing and modeling behavior of others and its consequences afterwards; Since one department have lots of employees who have their own method to deal with customer matters, like the ways to deliver customer service when dealing with customers with different tempers, so everyone can be a role model towards the others. For example, for a host at Chef Mickey (Food and Beverage), there are many staff to serve customers, such as ordering, serving, and cleaning up. They can first observe how the other staffs perform their job responsibilities to get customers’ satisfaction, and then the consequence is they can improve themselves to provide a smoother customer service after observation and modeling. For self-reinforcement, it is a conclusion that employees should reinforce their behavior with consequences within their control after the learning from observation. Disneyland can carry out the performance management through defining the criteria: define what is high-quality customer service by the management department, items may include customer preferences, establishing rapport, dealing with complaints, promoting and up-selling; measuring and appraising employees’ performance: how often to carry out quality assessment and when will have appraisals based on the needs with the current situation, like the peak season for Christmas or The Lunar New Year; providing them either positive or negative feedback: using face-to-face approach in order to deliver their feedback directly: self-reinforcement will occur if the feedback is positive, employees can accumulate a higher marks for the overall performance in order to get the bonus and rewards from achieving the checkpoint set by Disneyland. And their performance can be  improved through providing a better service to achieve the bonus and rewards, learning from colleagues, personal development, such as the goals and schedule set by an individual to provide a better customer service. 3) Using a reward allocation decisions can shape ones behavior in Disneyland. Which people to reward: who meet the requirement of providing high-quality customer service, how to reward them: whether using monetary or non-monetary term. When to reward them, depending when will the appraisals be released. Since Disneyland is a service industry, using team reward systems will be more appropriate as employees should have a good interpersonal and communication quality, and this reward approach can emphasize cooperation and joint efforts, also employees can share their experience to others in order to achieve a better performance and gain a higher reward through cooperation. At the same time, competency-based reward should be used as a financial reward practice as it is the fundamental part of employment relationship. The pay has multiple meanings, such as symbol of success which provides high-quality customer service performance, reinforcement and motivator, reducing anxiety that the worries about how is their own customer service providing performance. Competency-based reward is a pay increases with competencies acquired and demonstrated. It is a skill-based pay which means how well is the customer service provided, pay will be increased with skill modules learned. The advantages is having flexibility on the workload with a better quality, since different employees will provide different customer service, they can learn from dealing with real-time cases in order to adjust how can the customer service be delivered better. Not only is this reward focusing on individual rewards: commissions, but also team rewards: gain sharing and the most important part – organizational rewards: profit sharing, stock options, balanced scorecard. 4) It is suitable to use the job rotation in Disneyland. The existing one is  called the Internal Transfer Process, which is eligible to regular full time cast members who have been employed at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and held their current position for at least six months. And the purpose is to provide Cast Members with cross-functional transfer opportunities and equip them to be multi-functional and multi-tasked. Cast members can first have six-months experience in their department, after being familiar with its job responsibilities and they feel it is time for them to experience the different challenges, they can submit the application for internal transfer without getting a supervisor’s approval. They can transfer within a Single Team, across different teams or between Operations Team and Professional Team with the same career path. And they can have job rotation after their demonstrated performance, education background, as well as work experience being assessed. Undoubtedly, it has a slightly difference with the job rotation approach since cast members need to submit their application and be assessed. However, the goal is actually similar that offers their employees a chance to have internal transfer. It can minimize repetitive strain injury and reduce the job boredom after staying as the same position for a long time; it is good for employees to experience different customers’ needs through working in different department and it is the only way for them to obtain a real experience through working by their own but not on books or documents. At the same time, there will be some drawbacks that cannot be ignored, such as the extra resources on training as some employees may only work for six months and have internal transfer, that means they need another training which lead to an extra cost on training, the extra training cost will be much higher for employees transferring between Operations Team and Professional Team because the trainin g criteria are totally different; also employees may not be an expert in all fields, this problem may occur frequently also in the case of transferring between Operations Team and Professional Team, since the job requirement will be totally different and they need more theoretical knowledge to manage employees or work out for a win-win outcome and also have decision making which will have a significant influence of Disneyland’s market share or status. Conclusion Hong Kong Disneyland has demonstrated how a world class theme park creates a working atmosphere for its employees. As motivation and learning are always two most important aspects of employee management, so our team has taken these two factors for study. In motivation aspect, we have introduced Herzberg’s two-factor theory and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need to explain the motivation of employees. The two factor theory and the hygiene factors can be applied in the ways that how Hong Kong Disneyland motivates its employees. The Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need explains how Hong Kong Disneyland motivates its employees according to the five stages of needs, that is, physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem, and self-actualization. In learning aspect, currently, Hong Kong Disneyland provides Disneyland University and mentoring sections for its employees to acquire both explicit and tacit knowledge. Its problem is that is does not give enough reinforcement to the employees on bettering the services, resulting in lower incentives and even job resignation. Therefore, we have suggested Hong Kong Disneyland to provide positive reinforcement such as bonus and team reward to boost their motivation and arrange job rotati on to keep the employees’ passion about the company as well as their job. In a nutshell, Hong Kong Disneyland is an international level organization hiring thousands of employees for operation. Its employee management method is a great model for studying but there are still rooms for improvement.

Students who push burgers: effects on education quality

The present thrust of university education is geared towards student’s independence, offering programs with part time study options to suit individual requirements and needs. For the fact that part time student’s performance complements the complexities of their drive and support system, the move to put on websites and electronic library access had so far supported the pressures of the student’s lifestyles and work-study habits. Part timers vary greatly from the needs of their full time counterparts as to age, socio-economic mix, educational background and motivations for continuing studies.It is imperative that a study of their part time rates and family context be inducted to help resolve problems on unaffordable tuition fees. Learning while earning as a part time student, molded me into a more mature person in the aspect of working to sustain education and meeting basic personal and family needs. I raise my hand to disagree Minot’s theory that the quali ty of education suffers when a student works simply by basing from the prerequisites involving good education founded as the case of a dedicated student, a comprehensive curriculum, quality assurance issues of the teacher, and the applied teaching methodology of the university.In the case of the student, we all have to deal with his capability to develop time management and assess priorities. Time management in the sense that the student shall be able to determine the number of hours that he need to work to generate the level of income sufficient for him to survive life. A kind of timetable to determine the number of hours appropriated for his studies, quality time with family and for personal matters of rest and leisure. The student’s sense of responsibility is then developed to exact appropriations regarding budget constraints and active participation in decisions centered on his own and shared family functions.The car was marked to be a necessity rather than a form of luxu ry in the part of the student. Minot’s theory was simply based on his sarcasm of buying what teenage people want, like the designer jeans, as if he hasn’t undergone the age and the stage. The culture of employed students is ultimate freedom to express their rights and their needs as relevant as the issues of quantity or quality of work from students. It is the process of undergoing through the different stages of life cycles and advancing into the domains of maturity which seems to be happening at a different pace in each individual with no exemptions made to full time students.Relatively, the decline of the American education cannot be solely based on the students alone, part time or full time, because bigger consideration shall be taken into the kind of curriculum that was created by the University in partnership with the Department of Education presented to us for the taking. They alone have the authority to know the technicality to prove probable strengths and weak nesses of the course and what it could produce to a student like me. It is simply formation guide to education. They are solely responsible for what molds our minds and spirits to sustain nationwide progress and development.We are just selecting from their list which path or place in their coursework and designs of progress we forecast to place ourselves. I agree that sometimes students could be so tired from work that they have the tendency to take their studies for granted and go to rest instead of studying. But I also insist on the fair ability of the students who have the initiative to learn how to cope up with stress and exhibit flexibility with regards to health, time management, and assessment of priorities which I have already discussed earlier.It is the determination of the individual to succeed and get what he wants in life that our context of preference shall be discussed and not the negative speculation of the present situation. For humans may experience success or failu re at any time in his life but still survive because of that spirit of determination. Now if we continue to look into the discussion of the third factor which is the quality assurance issues of the instructor, we can then specify some problems in the management and evaluation of tutor personalities relating to their maturity and flexibility to handle difficulties in tutoring students.One concept is the type of comments placed on written assignments which reflects tutors integrity and affects the immediate enthusiasm of the students to perform and carry on with the coursework. Another aspect is the applied teaching methodology as implemented by the University directives interfacing with the students as it transform when integrated with the personal reflections and methods of the instructor himself.Methods and the way teachers relay and convey ideas are something that is personal and shall be exact but not boring. Somehow, personal styles in teaching make it either difficult or easy f or the students to comprehend the subject in taking. I sincerely express that motivation and external support plays a vital role in increasing the population of the professionals to sustain national progress and not limited to the inability of the student’s parents to support their education and the student’s option to earn to sustain education.

Making a Managment decision Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Making a Managment decision - Essay Example In such a scenario the performance appraisal tool, if it has been done in a proper manner, could be of significant use in arriving at the right Employees in an organization comprise the human asset of the organization and needs to be managed with as much or greater care than the other assets of the organization. Many a time this aspect of employees is neglected by managers leading to faulty decisions in their appraisals and thereby leading to discontentment. For any performance appraisal to be effective it is necessary that those being appraised understand the standards required of them and against which they re being assessed. This has twin benefits in that the employee understands the process and accepts the managers decisions better an also can then set themselves to try and achieve the standards. Performance appraisals are used quite often just to assist managers in making salary raise decisions. This is likely to affect the regularity of the use of performance appraisals and its utility as a performance enhancing tool. Performance appraisal decisions are quite often found to be subjective and not objective. An example of this is that it is quite likely that the decision of he manager is affected by a single good or bad job done by an employee and fails to see the quality of the rest of the work done over the period. Top down performance appraisal decisions have the risk of being looked as being thrust upon the concerned individual and utilizing peer to peer and upward assessments to encourage greater acceptance among employees provides for better harmony. (Murray, Joanne. Effective Performance Reviews. A Step-by-Step Plan to Make Them More Meaningful). One of the ways of eliminating the likely disregard for the human asset value in an organization by managers is to train them on the value of it and ascertain the success of the

Brazil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Brazil - Essay Example It relies heavily on these renewable sources of energy for home and commercial purposes. These include solar, wind, and hydraulic energy systems. Brazil has subsidized the equipment required for the renewable energy installations such as the solar panels and wind turbines in order to encourage further use of renewable energy. This has greatly contributed to Brazil being self-reliant in terms of meeting its energy needs, which has, in turn, placed the economy at a vantage point to be able to take advantage of arising opportunities (International Labour Office., & International Institute for Labour Studies, 2011). Brazil, as a country, is richly equipped in terms of mineral resources. It has large reserves of natural gas, which are used in running cars and other machines. Brazil has the highest natural gas deposit than other countries. For example, it has coal reserves that are used in power stations and for operating trains (International Labour Office., & International Institute for Labour Studies, 2011). Additionally, it also produces Uranium used for the production of nuclear energy. Brazil is ranked as the twelfth in terms of oil production in the whole continent. In addition to the renewable sources of energy already in use, it also produces ethanol, which is a by-product of sugarcane that is used for running cars and other basic energy uses. Brazil sources all its energy from its reserves thus no need to source any energy source from outside, and this ensures its self-reliance. Brazil is highly industrialized because of the availability of local sources of energy thus making it the maj or powerhouse in the South American region (Diniz, 2014). The Brazilian population is significant in its strategic positioning as a nation. It has been on the steady increase over the recent years. This is essential for the provision of labour and market for goods produced. This has led to many investors choosing to do business in Brazil since it has better working

Knowledge Is Power Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Knowledge Is Power - Essay Example From this paper, it is clear that the teachers encouraged us to analyze and critically evaluate topics that will result in the effective incorporation of knowledge in a future career. I work independently, as the classroom environment provided me hands-on experience. This experience provided me opportunities to develop proficiency and skills required to manage tasks/activities. The diversity of topics in this course helped me in building my communication skills. I can communicate effectively as at Flinders, frequent group discussions with classmates and senior colleagues are part of everyday routine. This has helped me boost my confidence and develop skills required to actively participate in discussions as well as conveying my point of view to others. I can work collaboratively because development of my communication skills provided me the confidence to take risks and share my opinions, reasoning, and decisions with my fellows. I value ethical behavior as being at a multicultural un iversity has helped me understand views, social norms and cultural beliefs of others. This had made me value intricacies of several issues. The multicultural experience has enhanced my vision and broadened my spectrum of the world. I connect across the boundaries because studying in a diverse university such as Flinders has provided me the opportunity to share my beliefs and cultural values to fellows. The comfortable environment offers me the opportunity to incorporate my values into the system as well as adapt certain morals and ethics from other parts of the world.

Analysis Of The Gift Of The Magi Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Analysis Of The Gift Of The Magi - Essay Example And lastly, the ending is satisfying but has failed to uplift the interest of its readers. JOURNAL ENTRY 14. AMERICAN HISTORY Like the short story â€Å"American History,† Toni Cade Bambara’s â€Å"Blues Ain’t No Mockin’ Bird† also details how its setting is essential in establishing the plot and the time frame of the story. Based on their manner of speaking, the setting may be estimated during the1950s to 60s or maybe just prior to the popularity and rise of Martin Luther King – due to the existence of a camera. A place off the countryside, some of the characters mentioned that this event took place in a county. And since there are children involved in the story, it had also probably occurred during summer or school break – where kids can enjoy the warm sun and the greenery outside their lawn. JOURNAL ENTRY 15. AMERICAN HISTORY Door of Hope for the United States Inside the door of hope for the United States are flashes of the colors b lue, white, and red – or the colors of the national flag. The color red symbolizes traumatic yet significant events like the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the fall of the World Trade Center, and the like. Like Elena, I would continue to hope for such inevitable events that would make this country stronger, united, and hopeful that everything that happens is for the betterment of the country. The color blue symbolizes peace, serenity – that is above everything bad that is happening in the country peace will still outshine in the hearts and minds of every American hoping for a better future. And the color white symbolizes purity, cleanliness, and innocence. Despite the unending destructive events in the country, I am still hopeful that this country will be able to bring out a just, humane, and decent society, who only hopes for the betterment of the country and not the betterment of the elite few. Door The door open for Me Like Elena, I only hope that the E l Building will remain only a setting of the past and the present. Whatever the future may bring, and the course of outcome of Kennedy’s assassination and other significant events, I only hope that El Building will only be a bridge that will take me towards my dreams and aspirations towards a better life outside this suburban community. And through the El Building, and its significant lessons that has taught me, I may be able to explore the world full of hope, dream, and pride. Door of Hope for the World For the third door of hope, I would hope that the world would continue to be as blue and green as it has always been, with hardly the shades of gray, black, and red. The vast water bodies, bolstering with pride at its cool sea breeze. The green mountains and landforms, signifying the healthy state of nature – as it conquers shades of gray, black, and red or the colors of destruction, famine, and war. JOURNAL ENTRY 16. HELEN ON EIGHTY-SIXTH STREET Vita, the main charact er on Helen on Eighty-Sixth Street: Physical Attributes Vita struck me as a nerd. A girl who studies so hard that she already memorized the story of Helen of Troy and the Trojan War word for word, cover to cover. Although not explicitly mentioned, Vita may be less than physically attractive than Helen. This may have been the basis why Mr, Dodd initially chose Vita to be in the Trojan Horse. Emotional Attributes Because of the absence of her father, Vita is somehow longing for security that only a father could provide.

Demings Plan-Do-Check-Act Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Demings Plan-Do-Check-Act - Coursework Example She faced many problems for the settlement of her infant child. Therefore, the idea came to my mind that she and many others like mothers are facing the adverse situation. In this case, a child may be disturbed. Therefore in order to save mothers and children form this adverse condition I planned to open a day care centre which actually provides the best services to the people regarding the care of their children that they feel fully satisfied after leaving their child here in the day care centre. The project of day care centre is done through a formal process even from the building to the hiring of staff. Initially the day care centre faces many problems. There was a little awareness about the day care centre in the public. In some cases, people do not rely on the environment and services of a day care centre. In my opinion, the problem was in the marketing of the project. We did not focus on the promotion and advertisements regarding day care centre. Some people are even unaware of the day care centre. A newly introduced project needs a high level investment on the marketing schemes. At the end of first year, the project of day care centre was a partial success just because of the lack of advertising promotions. The project could be fully successful if there was market analysis before its start. Therefore, in my opinion, a business manager should analyze the whole market in order to check the demand awareness of the project. Initially there should be a high-level investment on the marketing purpose. For these projects, there should be a marketing manager so that they can perform the duties in a regular manner (Lake, 2012). Then the management of the business can take right decisions. The concept of process management groups is very much similar to Deming’s plan, do, check and act strategy. This approach is very helpful in the problem just because of the division of work

Proposal for the upgrading and expansion of the school library Assignment

Proposal for the upgrading and expansion of the school library - Assignment Example The problem being faced is that the current library system is not up to par with regard to the changing library technologies; that is, searching for relevant resources is cumbersome since they have not been fully indexed to enable swift searching. In addition to that, the resources that are available in the library database are not updated. As a result, getting current online resources can be a challenge and in most instances, not all the journals are available for free access. Therefore, an individual may have to seek for other solutions which in most occurrences require a fee to be paid so as to gain access to the materials needed. Secondly, the library needs to be expanded in a bid to accommodate more students. This will in turn ensure that the students have enough access to the library resources. The suggested solution to these challenges is that if the management chooses to upgrade the library system, then access to library information will be very easy for each and every student. Secondly, if the library space is expanded, then students will be in a position to work and do their assignments from the library instead of doing it from home. The benefits that will be achieved include: students will have optimal access to current resources that are relevant and peer reviewed. Secondly, through the expansion of the library space, students will practice and gain through group discussions. The main aim of this proposal is to encourage the management to consider upgrading library system. ... Due to the demand to work on an assignment, an individual is prompted to look for the needed peer reviewed resources from other online sources. In most instances, peer reviewed sources may be charged a fee. Therefore, a student may not work on their assignment to the full capability that they would like to. Secondly, the library space is not adequate to accommodate all the existing and new students. Due to congestion, a student may be forced to work on their assignment from home. A solution that is prone to work includes the implementation of a system that is up to date so that students can gain access to new material. Additionally, this will require that the library space be expanded so as to accommodate more students who may prefer to do their assignments from the library. The importance of this proposal is to inform the management about the challenges that students are facing at school so that they can be in a position to look into the challenges and solve them. According to the N ational Literacy Trust (N.d), majority of the students in schools tend to read material that is made available to them from the library. In addition, this material should be intriguing as well as up to date; else the student may lose interest with the literature provided. If the library system is not upgraded to have current resources, a lot of students will lose interest with the library. This could in turn affect the student’s grades and also the schools ranking may be affected. Apparently, â€Å"when teachers and librarians work together, students achieve higher levels of literacy, reading, learning, problem solving, and information and technology skills†

Cash flow stream Essay Example for Free

Cash flow stream Essay ?1. What is the present value of the following uneven cash flow stream ?$50, $100, $75, and $50 at the end of Years 0 through 3? The appropriate interest rate is 10%, compounded annually. PV=190.46 (SEE EXCEL FILE ATTACHED) 2. We sometimes need to find out how long it will take a sum of money (or something else, such as earnings, population, or prices) to grow to some specified amount. For example, if a company’s sales are growing at a rate of 20% per year, how long will it take sales to double? It would take about 3. 801784 years before the sales double. (SEE EXCEL FILE ATTACHED) 3. Will the future value be larger or smaller if we compound an initial amount more often than annually— for example, every 6 months, or semiannually—holding the stated interest rate constant? Why? It will be larger because it’s basically like adding on interest on top of interest as the frequency increases. 4. What is the effective annual rate (EAR or EFF %) for a nominal rate of 12%, compounded semiannually? Compounded quarterly? Compounded monthly? Compounded daily? EAR = (1 + Nominal Interest/Number of Period) ^Number of Period -1 SEMI ANNUALLY= (1+.12/2)^2-1=12.36% QUARTERLY= (1+.12/4)^4-1=12.55% MONTHLY= (1+.12/12)^12-1=12.68% DAILY= (1+.12/365)^365-1=12.75% 5. Suppose that on January 1 you deposit $100 in an account that pays a nominal (or quoted) interest rate of 11.33463%, with interest added (compounded) daily. How much will you have in your account on October 1, or 9 months later? OCT 1ST= 100*(1+.1133463/365) ^ (365*.75) = $108.87 6. What would be the value of the bond described above if, just after it had been issued, the expected inflation rate rose by 3 percentage points, causing investors to require a 13% return? Would we now have a discount or a premium bond? PV= $837.21 (SEE EXCEL FILE ATTACHED) It would be considered a discounted bond because the present value is less than its face value. 7. What would happen to the bond’s value if inflation fell and rd declined to 7%? Would we now have a premium or a discount bond? PV= $1210.71 (SEE EXCEL FILE ATTACHED)Â  It would be considered a premium bond because the present value is more than the face value. 8. What is the yield to maturity on a 10-year, 9% annual coupon, $1,000 par value bond that sells for $887.00? That sells for $1,134.20? What does a bond selling at a discount or at a premium tell you about the relationship between rd and the bond’s coupon rate? RATE = 11% for a bond that sells for $887 and the RATE = 7% for a bond selling for $1134.20 9. What are the total return, the current yield, and the capital gains yield for the discount bond in Question #8 at $887.00? At $1,134.20? (Assume the bond is held to maturity and the company does not default on the bond.) The return for the $887 bond is 11% and the yield is 90/887 which equals 10.15%. The capital gain would be 11% 10.15%= .85% The return for the $1134.20 bond is 7% and the yield is 90/1134.20 which equals 7.9%. The capital gain would be 7% 7.9%= -.9%

Mega Events And The Legacy It Leaves Behind Tourism Essay

Mega Events And The Legacy It Leaves Behind Tourism Essay City planners around the world get an opportunity for rapid urban development and regeneration at a large scale through mega-event planning. The Barcelona Olympics of 1991 saw a paramount shift in mega-event planning, where city planners focused on the legacy that the event leaves behind and its impact on the city. The sustainable urban development of the city of Barcelona catapulted it to one of the top cities of Europe in a matter of year. Following the success of the Barcelona Games, mega-event organizations such as the IOC, Commonwealth Federation, FIFA etc. began focusing on the legacy plan of bidding cities for determining winning bids for such mega-events. An understanding of the effects of various legacy plans and its implementation in bid-winning cities is essential in formulating guild lines for evaluating the success of the legacy plans. The City of Delhi derived much of its legacy plan from previous bid winners and developed its urban regeneration plan for the city. The intention of this dissertation is to investigate the legacy plan for urban regeneration intended for the city of Delhi through the Commonwealth Games as well as the legacy that the event left behind. A comparison can therefore, be made to determine the extent to which the urban regeneration plan was implemented and how successful it was. The Macmillan Dictionary defines: Legacy: something  such  as  a  tradition  or  problem  that  exists  as  a  result  of  something  that  happened  in  the  past. something  that  someone  has  achieved  that  continues  to  exists  after  they  stop   working  or  die. The mega-event is by its nature large scale, organized by the social elite in the host nation or city and projects secular values and principles through the creation of an official version of the city or nations history and contemporary identity. Performance mega-events are typified in the 20th century by the Olympics and represent a populist cultural expression of the achievements of the host city or nation (Roche, 2000). Reinvention of a Mega-event as catalyst of urban development became prominent towards the late 1970s. Reasons for this were the growing awareness of the pervasiveness of deindustrialization led city planners to take action to stimulate new sources of employment and also that urban regeneration by traditional production based approaches became implausible. This lead to alternate strategies that relied on service industries and consumption to supply growth.(R.Gold, M. Gold, 2007) Mega-events are used by city planners to fast forward the planning and execution process by overcoming problems of urbanism. The recent host cities of mega-events have used it to contain the social disruption arising from rapid urbanization and economic expansion. Host cities use these events to achieve specific local and national goals. The 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games represented an opportunity to redevelop the city using a mix of public and private sector funding that balanced the commercial and social aims. The Fantasy City model (aggressive commercialism and tourist orientation) of the Los Angeles Games were modified and the Barcelona approach emerged as an alternative to obtaining a post-Games regeneration legacy. Since 1992, Legacy has assumed a considerable significance to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as its evaluation process has incorporated environmental and other social dimensions and is now firmly focused upon non-sport related outcomes as a source of legi timation for hosting the Games. The Barcelona inspired modification of the commercial approach to hosting the Games was replicated by London with the 2012 bid creating a combination of public and private funding and partnerships to deliver the event and an ambitious social, cultural and economic legacy. (Poynter, 2009). The Government of India also gave a comprehensive legacy plan to the Commonwealth Federation in order to win the bid of the 2010 Commonwealth Games to Delhi, India over Hamilton, Canada. The study of previous Mega-events particularly the Olympics of Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, their legacy plan and implementation, are key to understanding and analyzing the legacy plan for Delhi post the Commonwealth Games of 2010. The key findings of the Greater London Authority on previous editions of the Olympic Games of Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 for assessing the Legacy of the London Olympics of 2012, are as follows: Economic Legacy Momentum In the economic sphere Legacy Momentum refers to the capacity of the city and regional economy to continue an upward growth path following the immediate post-Games downturn in economic activity. The capacity to achieve momentum relates to several factors. The Games must complement an already existing regeneration plan that involves new phases beyond the Olympic event. The knowledge-base derived from the preparation and staging of the event is not dispersed when the Games end but is utilized to promote further innovation with the city and region. 3. The negative consequences and omissions from the Olympic-related regeneration phase are addressed in subsequent urban development projects. Barcelona (1992) is the best example of a host city achieving Legacy Momentum. The Mega Event and the City Economy The impact of the Games on a city economy is both tangible and intangible. The intangible re-branding of a city may have subsequent tangible effects, especially through inward investment and the enhancement of entrepreneurial confidence and expertise (Barcelona 1992). The Games provides a significant catalyst for renewal; accelerating the completion of infrastructure projects (Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Athens 2004 and more modestly Sydney 2000) but the host city population emerges with a balance sheet of positives and negatives from a process of regeneration that happens to it rather than is shaped by it. Social, Cultural and Lifestyle Olympic Philosophy: Regeneration The IOC commits to ensure that the host cities and their residents are left with the most positive legacy of venues, infrastructure, expertise and experience Urban Renewal All Cities pursue hard legacy gains: infrastructure, the reorientation of city spaces, improved amenity, new types of land use and economic activity. Barcelona is the acknowledged success story here. Planned-in legacy offsets white elephant syndrome in some cases The post-Games use of infrastructure is an important guide to the success of the Games, and in all cases legacy needs to be built into initial conception, design and delivery of Olympic facilities (buildings, but also IT, governance, city brand management, and post Games maintenance contracts). Barcelona Olympic village, Atlanta business tourism, Sydney and Australian tourism and Athens transport systems provide indicative evidence. The Green Legacy The first Green Games, and its Environmental Audit Legacy- Sydney was the first Games to be audited throughout by Greenpeace, who issued a detailed and fairly positive report. Any future Games environmental impact will be judged according to the Sydney benchmark, and therefore cooperation with NGOs (in information sharing, planning and execution as well as in establishing the principles for construction, raw materials procurement, etc) is vital. Sustainability and poverty reduction Environmental sensitivity and sustainable development together form the third pillar of Olympism, as is fully explained in the Olympic Agenda 21 document of 1999. Sustainable development means engaging with the whole worlds needs for clean air and water, and creating opportunities for personal and social development worldwide. Hard infrastructure and urban renewal à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Housing, Olympic Village development (Cashman 2006) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Transport connectivity and enhancement greener, cleaner and more efficient (Cashman 2006; Essex and Chalkey 1998) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Economic success (Preuss 2004; Cashman 2006) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Telecommunications infrastructure à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Sporting facilities permitting increased sports and other community activities/participation. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The outward fabric of the city cleaning and greening à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Hotel and other tourist and leisure venues including night time Economy Definition of a Good Legacy While each of the past cities can be seen to have pursued many of these aims, typically each city can be shown to have emphasized in particular instances a narrower range of ambitions. It is the case that typically cities aim to integrate Olympic-based renewal alongside wider urban development agendas.( Preuss 2004). Notable differences in cities starting points Adapted from McKay and Plumb (2001) The Barcelona Games (1992) are often cited as a model for London. These Games represented the regeneration of an entire city of three million people, rather than a narrower geographical area within a larger city. It is also worth noting that the Barcelona Games were the most expensive of the recent Olympiads, as a consequence of the large-scale regeneration program. The Atlanta Games (1996) were not particularly focused on regeneration. Spending was confined largely to sporting facilities (no Olympic Village was built, for instance), and the private funding of the Games left a very limited legacy. The Sydney Games (2000) were less focused on regeneration than the London Olympics are: the Homebush area was regenerated by the Games, but the residential areas were in fact already wealthier than Sydney overall. Athens Some major regeneration projects (2004) included the Athens metro and road systems. Revivification of Athens as a world class tourist city and assertion of relationships with Europe were key aims. Other Legacies Typically, apart from sporting venues, there are four areas of development à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Transportation: road, rail, tram, air and various interconnections, as well as policy and planning on parking, pedestrianisation and modal shift. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Telecommunications infrastructure primarily to service the worlds media, but in the future perhaps also developing Olympic area for WiFi and/or other connectivity for visitors à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Housing, especially the Olympic village urban realm and cultural infrastructure night time economy, Cultural activities as well as ecological and parkland projects. There is typically some initial disruption locally, and related concerns about the long and short term impact of such development on various costs, especially on the inflationary impact on rents and prices, not only in the short term period of the Games, when congested transport systems and the prospect of inflated restaurant prices can jar with local communities, but in the medium and longer term, where infrastructure investment, especially improved transport links (as well as reputational benefits for the city) can drive up property and rental prices either city wide or, as is more significant, in certain privileged areas. The Games are welcomed as a stimulus to and accelerator of such investment and developmental change in the city, however; transformations leading to gentrification and house price/rental inflation can rapidly produce divisions. As with any kind of regeneration project, the Games can contribute to an amplification of socioeconomic differences, producing new spatial distributions of wealth and well-being and gentrification effects which sometimes polarise local populations in regenerating areas. For instance, Barcelona is understood to be amongst the most successful cities in terms of legacy. As part of its successful development of its image and infrastructure towards becoming a key European hub and a renewed centre for global tourism and culture, the city has also seen (as a consequence) massive house price and rental inflation (131% between 1987-1992), and the emergence of a large population of wealthy international resident/visitors and property investors benefiting from long term infrastructure investments more directly than some local populations, whose access to housing and jobs may not have significantly improved. Legacy of Sports Infrastructure It is possible to identify a range of subsequent legacy uses for sports infrastructure. The afterlife of the venue is an inaccurate designation, since the short, 16 day Olympic phase (not including the test and training events that may proceed the Games proper) while determining many of the features and fabric of the structure, ideally ought not, exclusively and definitively pre- or pro- scribe subsequent usage. Preuss (2004) suggests four main follow up uses of Olympic facilities, to which we might add a further use, drawing on Cashmans (2006) account of the importance of memory and retrospection in informing the subsequent symbolic and soft legacies of the Games: Follow up usage of Olympic Infrastructure (Table below) Source : adapted from Preuss, 2004 and Cashman 2005 The Requirements There is no direct correlation between such increases and the wide variations in the cost of putting Games on, however; such variance is a function of decisions about how and which sporting and other infrastructure will and must be developed, revitalized or replaced in the particular host city. What the Cities Built: Outlining New and Existing Facilities Clearly hard legacy, as well as costs, are linked to the proportion of new construction undertaken for the Games. This work, extensive as it is, represents less investment than the large capital projects such as roads, rail links and land reclamation leading to fundamental legacy gains (as well as massive cost including cost overruns). However, it is the specifically Olympic buildings and in particular large stadiums that invite most speculation about future usage. The degree of new infrastructure development undertaken by different cites varies (Preuss 2004; Baim 2007; Essex and Chalkey 2003). In part this is a matter of culture, where specific sports and facilities (such as baseball in the UK) are not routinely apart of the host nations sporting habits. Existing development and intended investment planning largely shape this aspect of hard legacy. General Facilities Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney and Athens (Table below) Source : Adapted from Preuss (2004) As Carbonnell (2005) suggests, drawing primarily on the Barcelona experience, For any city, hosting the Olympic Games is both an honour and a challenge. Much of the infrastructure required is temporary in nature; it only serves a purpose for the duration of the Games themselves. Barcelona took a very clear-cut approach on this issue: the aim was to undertake ambitious projects which would benefit the city as a whole, convinced that what was good for the citys residents would also be good for the Olympic family (Carbonell 2005). Accommodating the required numbers of visitors to the host city, and ensuring a high quality and secure experience for all, over 16 days, is no small task. However, the scale of host cities Olympic projects, especially when thinking in terms of legacy, must also, and primarily, include consideration of the scale, extent and quality (in terms of delivery and planning for subsequent use) of the whole refurbished fabric of the host city, in and around the main Olympic sites, but also beyond, up and down transport routes and down and through hi-tech telecom and IT infrastructure. Indicative changes in Land Use Associated with Olympic Construction (Table below) Source: Adapted from Preuss 2004 Barcelona The Olympics were an accelerant to and focus for a number of projects, some long planned, others specific to circumstances pre-1992. The Games emerged within transformations involving extensive urban development; of old fish markets, army barracks, a womens prison and polluted waterfront areas3. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The 1936-built stadium in Montjuà ®c Park was refurbished and many new venues were built. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The Olympic Village necessitated a new placement of two rail lines that separated downtown Barcelona from the coastline formerly an industrial area. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The industrial section was replaced with beaches, which after the redirection of the metro line re-connected the city to the sea. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The sewage system was also modernised à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Four museums and a botanical garden were renovated in preparation of the Games. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ In 2004 Barcelona was the number one tourist destination in Europe. Observers of host cities in the aftermath of the Olympiad are well used to noting the white elephants, the most common characterisation of infrastructure à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ One kilometre of beaches in front of the Olympic Village, with a series of piers protecting the sand from the dominant stream that flows in East-West direction. The Olympic harbour with a capacity for 700 boats in the water and 300 ashore, with 75% of public space (bars, restaurants, commercial space etc). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Seaport promenade. 30 meters wide pedestrian seafront promenade with cafes, restaurant and other facilities. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Two towers 100 metres high for hotels and offices and other minor buildings. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Highway. Part of the city system of ring roads, with high traffic intensity (120,000 vehicles a day). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Urban nucleus. The basic idea was to link the new residential area with the traditional morphology of the city. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Some 2,000 housing units were built to host 15,000 athletes and 17,000 inhabitants. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ There was finally an integrated system of parks both for the use of the communities living around and in the nearby neighbourhood. developments which fail, in the medium or long term to find suitable subsequent usage. The study of Olympic Villages throughout this century is the study of the history of ideas about how to develop the city, how to plan it and how to manage it (Munoz 1998). It is probably unwise to generalise from either extreme; however, Barcelona is an instructive instance of a largely progressive and positively received redevelopment and of imaginative and sustained legacy momentum in the post Games periods. As noted above in term of infrastructure, the Games certainly offer some improvements. Truno (1995) tracked both access and facilities in Barcelona preand post- Games. If the number of installations available in Barcelona in 1982 is compared with those available after 1992, it can be seen that the Olympic and non- Olympic investment effort resulted in an increase of 75.8% as far as installations were concerned, and of 126.4% in the case of sports venues. Altogether, a total surface area of nearly 300,000 square metres was involved (Truno 1995) The figures for use of new sports centres created after the Games: in all the installations which accept subscribers or members, there has been an increase of 46,000 new users. (Truno, 1995) P.T.O Indicative positive legacy developments from Olympic village development Barcelona(Table below) Atlanta Essex and Chalkey (1998) provide a useful summary of the Atlanta infrastructure. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The centrepiece of the Games was the Olympic Stadium (capacity of 85,000) constructed especially for the event with private finance. After the Games, it was converted to a 48,000 seat baseball park for use by the Atlanta Braves baseball team. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Other new facilities, such as the Aquatic Center, basketball gym, hockey stadium and equestrian venue, were given to educational establishments or local authorities. The main Olympic Village (133 ha) was located on the campus of Georgia Technical College. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The other main infrastructural legacy to the city was the Centennial Olympic Park in central Atlanta, which was intended to be a gathering place for visitors during the Games and later to enhance the quality of life for local residents. The Atlanta legacy is largely understood to have been committed to business and commercial aims building the reputation of the city. Nevertheless as McKay and Plumb (2001) observe, Atlanta largely used existing facilities to house athletes and as such did not experience the mass residential construction around its Olympic precinct. The Olympics did, however, have a considerable influence on the location of demand by helping to create a more attractive inner city residential environment through improvements to transport facilities, retail amenities and public areas, such as parks and pedestrian walkways. The Atlanta office market has continued to grow strongly since 1996, with more than 520,000 m.2 of office space absorbed across the metro area in 1998. INDICATIVE CASE STUDY: Negative Impacts Atlanta adapted from Newman (1999) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Economically deprived African-American areas of Atlanta were affected most by the preparations for the Games. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Residents were relocated from at least six public housing projects à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ For these individuals the preparations for the Olympics were disruptive costing many the use value of their homes and neighbourhoods. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ CODAs neighbourhood revitalisation plans failed, and only those areas closest to Olympic venues received substantial support for revitalisation. Newman makes a useful point about tendencies relevant in particular to mega event driven regeneration. He suggests that events such as the Olympics are part of a process of reshaping land use in the city to make room for urban spectacle and display at the expense of the routine aspects of daily life for urban residents. In public housing projects and in low-income neighbourhoods, many families were moved to make way for the spectacle. Newman concludes that: The legacy of newly constructed sports venues and the enhanced image of Atlanta as a world city must be tempered by the continuation of a pattern of moving low-income residents to make way for growth. The study suggests that: Only the most dedicated efforts by business leaders and city government to work with low-income citizens after the Games will change the legacy of distrust the Olympics have helped to perpetuate. Athens The main features of the Athens projects included an attempt at revitalising major tracts of the city precinct. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Remediation of almost 300 ha. of disused wasteland/quarries, and 250 ha. of polluted rubbish dumps, as well as 600 ha. of former army camps deindustrialization and de-militarisation of land use à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Developing park, recreation and environmental education areas covering 250 ha. of urban space (landscaping of 60 dry and seasonal river beds into landscaped parks) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The unification and enhancement of major tourist/archaeological sites à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Enhancement of residential districts in the centre and outskirts of the city à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Transport à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Athens International Airport Regeneration à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Athens ring road and designed to take traffic from notoriously congested city à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Athens Metro, with an intention towards encouraging legacy modal shift necessary in a city well known for congestion problems Sydney The main features of the Sydney Olympic regeneration were: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ New sports facilities (inc. Olympic Stadium), à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Telecommunications enhancements, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Land remediation in Homebush Bay, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Olympic Village built as new suburb (Newington) with housing the worlds largest solar powered settlement, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Green redevelopment: international benchmarking on waste reduction, water re-use, use of recyclable materials, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Further sports, retail, commercial and transport facilities; widening of footpaths and new street furniture, aimed at smartening up central Sydney à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Transport the major policy and planning aims of the Sydney Games were to ensure public access. This would have also contributed to the green credentials of the Games. This was achieved practically by: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Public transport being the only means by which spectators [could] directly access events at major Olympic sites; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Satellite car parking venues established in park and ride type schemes. (see Cashman 2005: 200-1) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ In addition the Games served as catalysts for catalyst for expansion of Sydney airport including new rail link and Eastern Distributor road linking the airport to the CBD; Cashman, noting in particular that there was a post-Games slump in enthusiasm for all things Olympic. He identifies a range of factors that should continue to be tracked, suggesting that (as with Athens) the legacy needs to mature before some key assessments can be made. These include: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Media tracking and analysis of cultural issues city branding, national reputation, attitudes to multicultural issues within Australia, attitudes to disability and sport à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Business and economic outcomes à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Impacts on Sport elite performance and everyday participation à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Ecological issues The Olympic Village, Sydney The aim in building the Village was: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ to provide the best possible housing and residential facilities for all athletes and team officials à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ to apply the highest possible environmental standards à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ to provide a new suburb for post-Games use The site had previously been an abattoir. After the Games à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The Village was made into a residential area, a suburb of Newington à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Medium density housing à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ 850 three- and four-bedroom architect designed houses and 350 two- to three-bedroom apartments in 94 hectares. Cashman offers some examination of participation. These figures are in some sense more clear, however they do not reveal too much detail about sports participation, rather giving emphasis to generalised Post Games legacy uses civic amenity as much as sporting venue nonetheless valuable social assets. Attendances at the Aquatic Centre in recent years in Sydney (Table below) Source: Cashman (2006) Overall Assessment Source: Greater London Authority ( 2007)