Problem 6 - RJ for Hospitality and Tourism Management

Keywords for the day:

1)      Over-supplying

2)      Over-crowding

3)      Supply

4)      Push and Pull factors

5)      4 different demands (actual demand, latent demand, deferred demand, no demand)

Over-supplying refers to high number of visitors but low number of products and services in the tourism industry.

Over-crowding refers to high number of products and services in the tourism industry but there is low number of visitors.

Supply refers to accommodations, food and beverages, transportations and attractions, in short basically everything which visitors need when travelling to a country.

Push factors refers to what prevent inbound international tourism and internal tourism from taking place. In simple term is what pushes tourists away from wanting to go into the country.

Pull factors refers to what encourages inbound international tourism and internal tourism from taking place. In simple term is what attracts the tourists from coming into the country.

The 4 different demands refers to actual demands which is the number of people we have in a business (I will explain further) and latent demand refers to what prevent visitors from coming into the country when we already have a expecting number of visitors into the country. Deferred demand refers to whether or not we have the capability to accept the number of visitors; we can either build more infrastructures or remove the infrastructure to fulfill the needs of the country.

Let me put tourism into a church setting. I hope I could explain in correctly, if I am able to explain in simpler concept I think I will be able to explain in a slightly more complex term. If I am not correct, please point out the mistake that I make so that I can have a clearer view.

 Church = country

Constant number of people who attend church (200) = Fixed number of tourists that comes Singapore (200)

Number changes due to school holiday or major outbreaks or major events (100) = Number of tourists increases due to term break in oversea setting, sickness (e.g H1N1) or big events (e.g F1)

My church recent revamped our 2^nd storey to allow us to occupy more people into the church. The reason simply is that church is growing and to fit into the culture of 20^th century we have to revamp to attract more teenagers into the church.

Before the revamp, our church only can occupy 250 people. So in simple term, our supply only has 250 seats. At first our church have only 200 people including people who serve in the ministry so that would mean that the actual demand is 200 and our latent demand is 250. The number of people who attended the service drops from 200 to 170 especially during the holidays such as the Christmas or major school holiday such as March, Mid Year Holiday and End of Year Holidays. This means that we are over-supply as we have more chairs rather than people. During major outreach activities, we will have 260 to 300 people attending the service. We have over-crowding happening as we have more people rather than seats so that mean those who are serving have to stand during the service.

5 year later we decided that we need to revamp the church as we foresee that we need to occupy more people in the service. So we are deferred demand that we need to increase the number of seats. In simple term we predicted the number of people who will be attending the service will increase from 250 to 400 which include people who serve in the ministry. So now we revamp and that we are now over-supply as we have more seats than people.

In our church we have a library but because it is over-supply for more than 10 years. Therefore we can say that the library is in no demand.

In conclusion, the supply and demand is a chain reaction will be continuous unless there is no demand than it will remain the same throughout the years.

Photos from my ex-colleagues @ NTU, MSE, GO

She's graduated from RP, so considered as my Senior though different Diploma.

I will add more photos soon. But that is when I am slightly more free. Haha! :D

Problem 3 - RJ for Strategic Sports Development

Question: Reflect and critique on the approach Singapore has adopted for the proposed Sportshub development.

First we identify what is the sports hub main aim. The main aim of the hub is to accelerate the development of sports industry, excellence and participation and to take sports to the next level in Singapore.

Next we identify why there is a need for sports hub. The reason why we have sports hub, it is to boost up our tourism using sports as a form of tourism lure, for commercialization and lastly to promote the idea of sports are for all to play.

How I identify that it is to boost our tourism economic is through the statement that state that sports hub will help in creating a critical mass of international, regional and local sports federations and associations, sports medicine and sports science service providers, sports related training and education service provider. Since the sports hub is located just 15 minutes away from the Singapore Changi International airport it makes travelling easier for those who are in the hurry to head back home after watching or joining the international event. Not just so, the sports hub is located near the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort, Marina Barrage, Singapore Flyer and floating platform at Marina Bay which are the attractions which most tourists and our local Singaporean would go on a weekend and school holiday therefore I strongly believe that our sports hub will be the next attraction around the area.

How I identify that it is a commercialization area is because the sports hub is the largest sports facilities infrastructure which is Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) project in the world. Singapore is intending to allow private sector to join in sponsoring our future generation of athletics will definitely help in term of economic and having more elites in our sports industry. Currently most of our sports are supported by the Singapore Sports Council which in turn gains budget cost from MCYS who is the government body. But usually most of the money for sponsorship do not come from MCYS but comes from Singapore Pools (Toto/4D) – private sector. Therefore to boost up our elites sportsmen, it is best that we have more sponsors from the private sector so that we have more money for proper equipments and training facilities for our athletes.

How I identify that it is a sports for all to play is that they mentioned that there are commercial space for leisure, shopping and dining activities. The sports hub will also consists of sports information and resource centre (SIRC), comprising a library, a museum and an exhibition centre. Not forgetting that it will consists of sports promenade and community facilities which are available to public. The sports hub is located in a way that there is ease of transportation to the venue such as Mass Rapid Transit network and the major expressways, it make travelling to the venue lot much easier.

In conclusion, I would say that this sports hub will not be a white elephant, this is because the community will definitely treat it like a venue for relaxation and leisure activity like the esplanade at the bay which has outdoor concert for our local musical talent to showcase we can have local community sport in the venue and earn a little revenue through the retail shops. I would also say that it definitely will bring our sports to a higher level as we gets to let our athletes to compete with international players without sending to oversea which I would considered that as a way to cut cost and spend more on sponsorship.

I hope I have got my idea right, a little lost even after reading the pre-reading before writing my RJ.

Problem 2 - RJ for Strategice Sports Development

Question: Which NSA in Singapore do you think is set to produce the best results in terms of high performance and high participation within the next 5 years, and why?

I think that Archery Association of Singapore will set to produce the best results in term of high performance and high participation within the next 5 years.

In term of pillar 1, our financial support is actually quite well secured, this can be said when we have parental support during our school term. We have a high number of National Archers that are still studying while in the midst of preparing for competitions. Most of our national archer’s family are supportive of what their children are doing and therefore giving them a chance to focus on their training without worrying on the financial status.

In term of pillar 2, our policies encourage our fellow students in various tertiary groups to excel in the sports although our students might not be able to afford the better quality bows.

In term of pillar 3, we have more and more places having indoor archery and the cost of learning the introductory archery is cheaper. As mentioned in our worksheet, for archery it usually starts when we have fun, then slowly we developed into our interest which resulted in leisure activity which then slowly developed into the thought of going for competition to gain experiences and then to finally to win medal. Since the venue and the equipment are much easier to get, therefore we are should see a rise in participation in Archery compared to before.

In term of pillar 4, we usually hand-picked our national archers through various competitions, example; POL-ITE, NTU open, NUS open…. E.t.c. Through such competitions, we can get the best among the best to join the national team and from the national team we get the best among the best to go for the major competitions. So that is the procedure of talent identification & development system.

In term of pillar 5, most of our coaches that we have now are our ex-national archers. Therefore the post-career support is actually given to them to become coaches for our next generation archers. Since our post-career support group is already fully readied it would mean that in 5 years time, we would have more certified coaches and event planners for the archers to gain experience in.

In term of pillar 6, our training facilities are now growing so in 5 years time, we should have more capability to have a field or to use the soccer field in stadium for training 70m and 90m distance purposes. Since international competition is usually 70m and 90m distance, therefore it is wise that we have such fields and stadium ready for our usage to train.

In term of pillar 7, our coach although no clear definitions on how they get their certification but definitely they are more experienced and know more than our team manager or training team. Since we have limited coaches, I could say that our coach have a lot of experiences to coach us to elite team. For example, the current coach that is coaching RP’s archery team is actually one of our national archer’s ex-coach before she entered national. With his guidance, this year in our POL-ITE competition we have gain more medals compared to previous year although we are still 3^rd ranking in overall.

In term of pillar 8, we have many events going on for the past few years, previously we only have 3-4 major competition to go for, but in these recent years, we have 6-10 major competitions that we can choose to go. Not forgetting that we need our archers to have 1-2 weeks of rest before the going back into training. So therefore by having a larger pool of national archers, we are able to send more people oversea to gain experiences and to finally to compete in Olympic which will be the final stage for the archers to compete to win medals.

In term of pillar 9, we have technology to help our fellow national archers in term of speeding up recovery of wear and tear of our muscles. We have the various equipment to measure and to check our skills to ensure that we are doing the right movement without injuring our muscles. Therefore I strongly believe that in 5 years time our equipments, nutrients and development of our talent identification will be at its’ peak.

Therefore in conclusion, in 5 years time I foresee that archery will be a high participation and high performance.

Problem 1 - RJ for Strategic Sports Development

Question: How have the modules you've taken thus far changed your perspectives toward sports?

I think it is a little tough for me to say as most of my modules are rather outdoor and if I am to classify them into sports, it will be considered as extreme sports as a whole due to the high elements and low element course which is not really a sports but just an activity based. But if I am to really dive into individual, kayaking and rock climbing are the two main individuals that are considered as sports.

I personally felt that I have never considered rock climbing and kayaking as a form of sports but as a fun activity. I think simply because I enjoy doing the activity and to facilitate the activity to a group of people is considered as fun and play at work rather than really considered that it is a sport and there must be certain seriousness in our work. Of course with one factor, I am someone who lost my passion in outdoor adventure learning. I think I am just hiding from troubles and difficulties that I faced as no matter how hard I seem to try to remember, the steps seem for certain modules are just too tough for me to understand and grasp. So I missed out quite a number of classes.

But if I am to say about modules changing my perspectives toward sports is really some random modules; I personally feel. These are sociology of sports and leisure, health and wellness and inclusive physical activities. I have never realised that certain sports are for certain group of people or how certain sports the rules are changed so as to include disabilities people or to fit certain group of people. I never realised that eating and sleeping well or having adequate vitamins will help us to excel in sports or even in our workplace. I always thought that by having enough sleep or so long you have eat food for every meals will help us to stay awake and keep fit. Apparently that is not the case.

Through the three modules, I have learnt that sports in Singapore especially; are meant to be played by everyone. I remembered in my sociology class, we covered on golf. It is true that in Singapore we have the most number of golf  course but that did not seem to break down the barrier that golf is not just for rich people to play. I still recalled that during that class we were saying that although Singapore government is trying to break down the barrier though encouraging school to have their own golf teams, that did not really help. I can personally say that as in Shuqun Primary school although golf is a CCA but there is a quota for it. There are only 45 students who can take part and the 45 students are from primary 1 – primary 6. When compared to other CCA where there can be like 70-150 students from primary 3-primary 6 and to be more accurate there is no limitation in these CCA but golf.

Now after talking about golf, today we have also discussed on the inclusive sports which is to include disability or young children or even senior citizens. This reminded me on my module Inclusive Physical Activities. No doubt games that we as teenager play cannot be played with the senior citizen or the disability if our rules are not changed so that they too can play at ease. For example basketball, we have basketball game for the teens and young adults while we have wheelchair basketball for the disabled. I can tell you for a disabled (example, leg amputees) to play normal basketball with us is difficult as they are unable to run nor jump like us. Likewise, we will definitely find it hard to play basketball with a wheelchair as we would preferred running and jumping as we will need to control not just the basketball that is in our hand but also the movement of the wheelchair.

Therefore I find that the paralympians games are so much interesting when compared with the Olympic games. I guess that also change my perception that there is only certain sports can be played but certain people as I think that most sports when rules and regulations are tweaked and adjusted, everyone should be able to play. No doubt I still cannot accept the fact or I should say I cannot understand how the amputees are able to do rock climbing or kayaking. Therefore I would still say most of the sports can be adjusted to suit them but there are certain sports (especially extreme sports) are for able-bodied person to play.

No offense here, I remember that disabled people do not like to be called disabled people and if we are to do comparison they do not like the term disable and able-bodied. But for now I can’t remember the right terms to use so I shall stick to this. Once I remember I will let you know again.

Sorry for the late RJ. I did not realised that my church worship practice will end near 11.30pm by the time I reached home and bathe and sit to type my RJ, it is already near 12.45am. I just used near 45minutes to finish writing. Thanks for your understanding.

Problem 3 - RJ for Leisure Planning & Programming

Question : Name 2 things you like about class today and 2 things you dislike about class today.

The 2 things that I like about the class today are that each team does one pre-reading and when presenting, we focus on one main problem.

When each team does 1 pre-reading, it breaks things up and topic that are difficult make it so much simpler suddenly. We can memorize the theories and definition a lot much easier and remember for UT better.

When each team does a presentation of 1 problem, there is no repetition in our presentation which makes our presentation so much interesting and less strenuous to stay focus in class. This way the examples are much more absorbable.

The 2 things that I dislike about class today are that instructions unclear for the presentation and doing of self-introduction.

The instructions are unclear for the presentation. We had a conflict as a team that whether we should include the Marlow & Neulinger’s theory for our slide presentation but because we heard that other teams were not doing so we decided not to do and follow.

It is cool that we are doing self-introduction as it helps us to get to know one another better. Most of us may have been in the same diploma but we might not have gotten to know one another. I have benefitted a little by knowing my peers a bit better and I believe I will get to know them even better for the rest of the 12 weeks in RP.

Problem 2 - RJ for Leisure Planning and Programming

Question: Give a summary of the theories that you've learnt today.

There are 3 main theories that are covered today.

-          Iso – Ahola Theory

-          John Neulinger Theory

-          Flow Theory

Iso – Ahola Theory

Leisure time is not = free time

Leisure time = (Free time – Obligatory non-work)

1.       Perceived freedom

a.       No internal nor external pressures to engage in leisure activities.

2.       Intrinsic Reward

a.       A sense of competence

b.      Uses certain skills

c.       A sense of accomplishments

3.       Social Interaction

a.       Companionship

b.      Social supports

c.       Develop of intimate relationship

When we have a higher sense of intrinsic motivation and sense of determination, the activity will grow from obligatory non-work to become free time activity and at a final stage where we feel that it leisure activity. I will talk about flow theory at the later part since both Iso – Ahola and Neulinger talks about it too.

Neulinger’s Paradigm/ Theory

Neulinger’s theory talk more on state of mind (mental), intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, perceived freedom and flow theory.

According to Neulinger, perceived freedom means how much choice we have in determining our own actions, e.g do we do certain things because it was a choice or was it because we felt that there is an action that is supposed to be done.

The 6 stages of minds refer to pure leisure, pure job, work-job, pure work, leisure-job and leisure-work.

Pure Leisure

This requires complete freedom from external control and it brings certain intrinsic rewards. It also means that one can enjoy the satisfactions derived from intrinsic rewards without having to pay attention to potential extrinsic ones and to be in control.

Leisure work

This means that the activity that we do are usually freely chosen by us and it is both extrinsically and intrinsically rewarding. So in simple term, we are not only just satisfying our mentality but at the same time satisfy the fact we are completing certain task. Note: A person can quits anytime whenever she or he is happy.

Leisure-Job

This refers to activity that is extrinsically rewarding and thus resembles a job. For example, I choose to work at a tuition centre because I find that teaching students and getting them prepared for exams is something that I love and the extrinsically it is both the pay and having the students to love me is something that I can’t find when I am working at Macdonald.

Pure Work

This refers to doing an activity under perceived constrain although it is suppose to be done for intrinsic reason. For example, I am doing homework and I find it interesting and enjoy doing it in the process, but that does not represent that I would want to do my homework if I am given a choice.

 Work-Job

This refers to activities that is done in constrain but have both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. For example, if I am to be married to a millionaire, I would not have to worry about working and studying hard for my future as my husband would have the capability to sponsor me to study at university.

Pure Job

This refers to activities that are engaged in by necessity and under constrain. There is no reward and most of time it includes negative connotation. Having to work to make ends meets is definitely a pure job.

Flow theory

There are 3 parts that makes up of the flow theory; perceived optimal arousal, perceived optimal challenges and unusual level of consciousness.

Perceived optimal arousal refers to the different level of challenges that can be either too simple that bores the participants or too tough that makes participants to doubt their capability.

Perceived optimal challenges refer to maximizing the positive impacts such as perceived competence level and minimizing the negative impacts such as anxiety.

Unusual level of consciousness refers to while enjoying an activity, the person will tend to be less aware of his surrounding, forgetting about the time and that he will tend to set a target that is hard yet achievable.

So for the flow theory to be applicable, I am learning to do abseiling, I started with abseiling at low level (storey 2) then I find that it is boring because it is such a short distance therefore my perceived optimal arousal is not there. I am to proceed to middle level (storey 4) then I find that it is challenging which mean my optimal arousal and optimal challenge is both met as I am afraid of height, I tend to be trying to conquer my fear which is a challenge and standing at storey 4 is considered as feeling arousal. I am then asked to proceed to the final stage (storey 5). I am quite sure if a choice given, I would not go for it because I my optimal arousal and challenge is at the peak, therefore I would not have agreed to go for it. But if I am forced to go for it, I might have higher anxiety but still will complete in the end, and that in the process of abseiling down, I might find that it is not that scary after all, so I would have forgotten how long I would spend abseiling down and enjoy hanging there.

Ok, I know you ask for summary, but I can’t seem to be able to form the picture yet. Read my pre-reading almost like never read, but definitely I am glad I have grasp certain ideas when reading it.

Iso – Ahola Theory

Leisure time is not = free time

Leisure time = (Free time – Obligatory non-work)

1.       Perceived freedom

a.       No internal nor external pressures to engage in leisure activities.

2.       Intrinsic Reward

a.       A sense of competence

b.      Uses certain skills

c.       A sense of accomplishments

3.       Social Interaction

a.       Companionship

b.      Social supports

c.       Develop of intimate relationship

When we have a higher sense of intrinsic motivation and sense of determination, the activity will grow from obligatory non-work to become free time activity and at a final stage where we feel that it leisure activity. I will talk about flow theory at the later part since both Iso – Ahola and Neulinger talks about it too.

Neulinger’s Paradigm/ Theory

Neulinger’s theory talk more on state of mind (mental), intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, perceived freedom and flow theory.

According to Neulinger, perceived freedom means how much choice we have in determining our own actions, e.g do we do certain things because it was a choice or was it because we felt that there is an action that is supposed to be done.

The 6 stages of minds refer to pure leisure, pure job, work-job, pure work, leisure-job and leisure-work.

Pure Leisure

This requires complete freedom from external control and it brings certain intrinsic rewards. It also means that one can enjoy the satisfactions derived from intrinsic rewards without having to pay attention to potential extrinsic ones and to be in control.

Leisure work

This means that the activity that we do are usually freely chosen by us and it is both extrinsically and intrinsically rewarding. So in simple term, we are not only just satisfying our mentality but at the same time satisfy the fact we are completing certain task. Note: A person can quits anytime whenever she or he is happy.

Leisure-Job

This refers to activity that is extrinsically rewarding and thus resembles a job. For example, I choose to work at a tuition centre because I find that teaching students and getting them prepared for exams is something that I love and the extrinsically it is both the pay and having the students to love me is something that I can’t find when I am working at Macdonald.

Pure Work

This refers to doing an activity under perceived constrain although it is suppose to be done for intrinsic reason. For example, I am doing homework and I find it interesting and enjoy doing it in the process, but that does not represent that I would want to do my homework if I am given a choice.

 Work-Job

This refers to activities that is done in constrain but have both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. For example, if I am to be married to a millionaire, I would not have to worry about working and studying hard for my future as my husband would have the capability to sponsor me to study at university.

Pure Job

This refers to activities that are engaged in by necessity and under constrain. There is no reward and most of time it includes negative connotation. Having to work to make ends meets is definitely a pure job.

Flow theory

There are 3 parts that makes up of the flow theory; perceived optimal arousal, perceived optimal challenges and unusual level of consciousness.

Perceived optimal arousal refers to the different level of challenges that can be either too simple that bores the participants or too tough that makes participants to doubt their capability.

Perceived optimal challenges refer to maximizing the positive impacts such as perceived competence level and minimizing the negative impacts such as anxiety.

Unusual level of consciousness refers to while enjoying an activity, the person will tend to be less aware of his surrounding, forgetting about the time and that he will tend to set a target that is hard yet achievable.

So for the flow theory to be applicable, I am learning to do abseiling, I started with abseiling at low level (storey 2) then I find that it is boring because it is such a short distance therefore my perceived optimal arousal is not there. I am to proceed to middle level (storey 4) then I find that it is challenging which mean my optimal arousal and optimal challenge is both met as I am afraid of height, I tend to be trying to conquer my fear which is a challenge and standing at storey 4 is considered as feeling arousal. I am then asked to proceed to the final stage (storey 5). I am quite sure if a choice given, I would not go for it because I my optimal arousal and challenge is at the peak, therefore I would not have agreed to go for it. But if I am forced to go for it, I might have higher anxiety but still will complete in the end, and that in the process of abseiling down, I might find that it is not that scary after all, so I would have forgotten how long I would spend abseiling down and enjoy hanging there.

Ok, I know you ask for summary, but I can’t seem to be able to form the picture yet. Read my pre-reading almost like never read, but definitely I am glad I have grasp certain ideas when reading it.