Background
The economic recession has presented some challenges to the hotel industry. The stakeholders in the industry have been forced to minimize the costs of operations in all departments in order to withstand the harsh climate.
Strategists in the industry have introduced some projects such as Go Green in order to survive in the market and conform to environmental laws. This paper chose to use a 3 in 1 dustbin that is frequently utilized in recycling system for study (Porter 1980, p. 93).
The dust bin performs a number of activities because it inspects, evaluates and separates recyclable and non-recyclable garbage. It puts each category of garbage into a different container. The gadget further compresses the contents into something simple (Michael & McGahan 2007, p. 20).
Literature Review
The issue of ecological conservation affects the hotel industry in many ways. The industry is perceived to be responsible for environmental degradation. According to the 2006 environmental sustainability and management report, the industry can as well benefit economically from the new environmental regulations.
Therefore, hospitality industry can cooperate with the environmentalists to achieve high results in terms of waste management. The 2008 report on managing housekeeping confirms that the hotel industry is responsible for environmental degradation (Ghemawat 1999, p. 13).
For the two sectors to arrive at a win-win situation, they can adopt some policies such as recycling and reprocessing of garbage, which aim at reducing the effects of waste materials. The EBSCO articles (2007) give some strategies that can be used by administrators in the hotel industry to minimize environmental dilapidation (Ghemawat 1991, p. 41).
The articles talk about recycling of waste materials in the hospitality sector hence challenging the sector to rise up and save the environment (Stipanuk, 2006, p. 107).
The 1993 Florida energy extension service observed that hotel apartments could produce more than eight tons of waste materials daily. The report recommended that 60% of the eight tons could be recycled. Furthermore, scholars have established that most hotels utilize trash compactors.
Compactors are bins that can condense garbage (Wittner 2003, p. 9). The bins are economical because they utilize small spaces and are costless in terms of dumping, meaning that labor costs can be reduced. Through analysis, it can be observed that recycling method can be used concurrently with trash compactors.
The compactors are mainly used at the kitchen section and at the lobby region. Combination of the two methods can greatly cut the costs of labor in the housekeeping department (Casper & Matraves 2003, p. 1869). The two techniques can maximize recycling and diminish garbage dumping.
Researchers have attempted to establish the type of detectors utilized in detecting smoke in many hotels. Lawrence Berkeley is one of the research firms that tried to find out the types of detectors (Solomey 1997, p. 89). This is important because it allows researchers to come up with suitable gadgets that can be used in recycling waste materials (Oster 1994, p. 67).
Methodology
The aim of this research is to develop some methods that can be used by the housing staff to improve on performance. The project aims at reducing the workload of employees by devising the most cost effective technique of disposing waste materials.
The project observes that housekeeping staff can increase its efficiency and improve management of waste in hotels. The research will be based on positivism and empiricism (Kumar 2005, p. 47). The two principles have the assumption that the hotel industry can gain economically if it embraces waste minimization strategies. This is achieved through efficient management of waste products. The study used is quantitative in nature meaning that concepts are summarized mathematically (Onwuegbuzie 1997, p. 5).
Research questions will be tested using scientific methods that are based on hypothesis. Testing of hypothesis validates the findings of the study. Data is collected objectively, meaning that the researcher keeps off from personal ideas (Vermunt 1996, p. 35).
The aim of the study will be to come up with a general principle or theory that would be applied to explain how hotels might manage waste products. Reliability is ensured through sharing of information between researchers.
The research will utilize survey method because of the nature of information needed. Much of data will be based on numbers hence using other methods may not yield relevant results. Primary and secondary sources of data will be required to accomplish this study.
Standardized data collection tool referred to as questionnaire will be used to collect information from key informants. The questionnaire will be mailed to relevant respondents mainly to obtain primary information.
The mailed questionnaire will be utilized because of limited time and scarce resources (Onwuegbuzie 2000, p. 324). The researcher will also scrutinize secondary data to gain more insight. Academic journals and government reports will be reviewed in order to extract important information.
This is based on the idea that knowledge is cumulative implying that it builds over time. What others have concluded in their studies is very important in any research. Furthermore, the researcher will rely on the Mass media for international publications (Forte 1995, p. 205).
Special magazines and E-Journals will be analyzed in order to gain more knowledge on what could be happening in other parts of the world. The researcher appreciates the fact that professional, trade and academic journals are important sources of data. In this research however, they would not be utilized fully because of their unavailability. Therefore, primary sources of data will be used because of their availability (O’Leary 2004, p. 102).
The questionnaire will be used to collect data in Switzerland because the project pertains to Swiss catering and hotel business (Zeidner 1991, p. 320). There will be five categories of questions in the questionnaire, which are related to the 5ws. The five Ws will be spread as follows:
Who- this will be the main target of the research. It will be about the hospitality industry in Switzerland.
Where- it is related to the place that the researcher will conduct research. The place will be Switzerland.
When- it is actually related to time.
How- This is related to the manner in which the study will be conducted. Questionnaires will be sent to respondents via email.
What – It is concerned with the outcomes of the study. The researcher will use yes/no options in the questionnaire.
Timescale
Gant Chart (Weeks)
List of References
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Forte, J 1995, “Teaching statistics without sadistic”, Journal of Social Work Education, Issue 31, no. 2, pp 204-308.
Ghemawat, P 1991, Commitment, The Dynamic of Strategy, Free Press, New York.
Ghemawat, P 1999, Games Businesses Play: Cases and Models, MIT Press, Cambridge.
Kappa, M, Nitschke, A & Schappert, P 2008, Managing Housekeeping Operations, the Educational Institute of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, Minchigan.
Kumar, R 2005, Research Methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners, Sage Publications, London.
Michael, P & McGahan, MA 2007, “An Interview with Michael Porter”, The Academy of Management Executive, Issue 16, no. 1, pp 2-44.
O’Leary, Z 2004, The Essential Guide To Doing Research, Sage Publications, London.
Onwuegbuzie, AJ 1997, “Writing a research proposal: The role of library anxiety, statistics anxiety, and composition anxiety”, Library & Information Science Research, Issue 19, no. 1, pp 5-33.
Onwuegbuzie, AJ 2000, “Statistics anxiety and the role of self-perceptions”, Journal of Educational Research, Issue 9, 3, no. 5, pp 323-330.
Oster, SM 1994, Modern Competitive Analysis, Oxford University Press, Nueva
Peteraf, MA 1993, “The Cornerstone of Competitive Advantage: A Resource-Based View”, Strategic Management Journal, Issue.14, no.1, pp 179-191.
Porter, ME 1980, Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, The Free Press, London.
Porter, ME 1990, The Competitive Advantage of Nations, London, MacMillan Press.
Solomey, N 1997, The Elusive Neutrino: A Subatomic Detective Story, Scientific American Librar, W.H. Freeman Co.
Stipanuk, D 2006, Hospitality Facilities Management And Design, the Educational Institute of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, Minchigan.
Vermunt, JD 1996, “Meta-cognitive, cognitive and affective aspects of learning styles and strategies: A phenomenographic analysis”, Higher Education, Issue 31, no. 1, pp 25-50.
Wittner, P 2003, The European Generics Outlook: A Country-by-Country Analysis of Developing Market Opportunities and Revenue Defense Strategies, Datamonitor, London.
Zeidner, M 1991, “Statistics and mathematics anxiety in social science students: some interesting parallels”, British Journal of Educational Psychology, Issue 61, no. 1, 319-328.