Reflection on Management Practice – THE PLAZA HOTEL IN NEW YORK CITY

LO3 Further enhance and develop cognitive skills, and their application in academic writing. LO4 Reflect upon their own understanding of the business environment, its application in relation to the world of academic studies, and to their own development in both the industry and academic domains. Transferable Skills: TS1: Communication TS3: Information literacy RESOURCES AVAILABLE: Resources relevant to this assignment include the databases and websites as highlighted on the course descriptor, however, additionally students will be required to use the GIHE library database for both academic and business sources. The use of corporate sources such as annual reports and corporate websites (notably those linked to the host organization) are encouraged. TASKS & ORGANIZATION: PLEASE REFER TO THE PDF DOCUMENTS ON MOODLE ENTITLED STRUCTURE OF YOUR PSA, IN ADDITION TO THE PROBLEM-SOLVING ASSIGNMENT INTRODUCTION. All references and data sources used must be cited in the body of your text and appear in a reference list at the end of your paper using the correct APA format (7 th edition). References are important. They acknowledge your source and avoids risk of plagiarism. They also provide the information necessary for a reader to locate and retrieve any source you cite for further reference. i) Format and Word Count: 1500-1700 words (+/- 10%). You will be penalized if the number of words is 10% over or under the permitted word count. Note: the reference list and any appendices are NOT included in your word count.LO2 Identify business-specific issues and problems, and to develop evidence-based solutions to these problems.

The assignment will be separated into 4 sections as follows: 1. Introduction – approx. 200 words In this section you are required to restate the context of your business scenario and the problem that you are going to investigate the solution to. This can be descriptive and needs to identify the scope of the size of the problem, i.e. what the potential benefits of finding a solution to the problem may be, notably for your internship organisation. 2. Mini Literature Review- approx. 300-500 words In this section you are to review the core theoretical perspectives surrounding your business problem. It may well require you to identify a specific theoretical model and then to identify, through the use of the GIHE Library databases, what similar research may have been carried out into the same problem. It may well be that this research has been carried out in an identical domain (e.g. hotels) but simply in a different location (e.g. Indonesia and India). This will probably have resulted in the research arriving at slightly different findings on the application of the theories associated with your problem. For example, if it is a problem of labour turnover, it is highly likely that in hotels in major cities, as a result of the wide choice of employment opportunities available to the labour force, movement of labour is more frequent in comparison with e.g. on a Caribbean island where the indigenous workforce have fewer employment opportunities and hence are more inclined to stay in their existing position. Please remember that this sort of opinion must be referenced to academic opinion, borne out of academic research, and thus it cannot be your own interpretation. It is expected that a minimum of 5 academic resources (books and academic articles) are to be used to compile this mini literature review. 3. Internship Organisation and Industry Research – approx. 300-500 words Whatever the problem that your internship organisation has, it will not be unique to them and thus other industry players will have identified ways of tackling the issue. There will be coverage of the issue in industry and trade publications, which will give valuable insight into how the industry is trying to manage the scenario. Returning to the example of the problem of labour turnover, this is obviously an HR issue and hence organisations such as the CIPD in the UK, the body that looks into what is happening in HR Management in all industries, will have a view on this. There will also be independent writers and industry ‘experts’ who will be readily available on various media channels, and this could e.g. take the form of a blog or video from industry leaders on the same subject. It is expected that a minimum of 5 industry based resources (company reports, industry journals, website sources) are to be used to identify what is happening within the industry to tackle the problem that you have highlighted. 4. Conclusion – approx. 200 words So having identified academic and industry opinion on your problem, in addition to perhaps the opinions within your internship organisation, what do you think the potential solutions to the problem may be? Please remember that in order to have arrived at these conclusions you must be able to reference back to the information that you have found in sections 2 and 3. It must not be simply the stating of your unreferenced opinion! It goes without saying that this piece of work must be academically referenced to APA standards with an appropriate reference list.