Rogat+-+Memo+-+Second+Draft+Proposal

Michelle Rogat Second Draft Proposal - NOT FINISHED

Title: The Business Ecology of Hospitality: Hurdles and Pathways to Sustainability

__**Abstract:**__ The aim of this thesis is to provide advice and insight to shift the hospitality industry towards sustainable practices and decrease their harmful impact on the environment. The hospitality industry and its resources in this research will be analyzed using the business ecology model, where the different participants are the members/customers, the hospitality businesses themselves, the surrounding businesses that provide daily services to those hospitality businesses, and environmental and sustainable consultants and organizations. (Might be wise to provide a visual for the layout of the business ecology model described here.) This study aims to increase the acceptance, uptake, and success of sustainability initiatives in the hospitality industry by discovering and sharing the reoccurring issues and advice on becoming sustainable that emerge from analyzing that business ecology model by its separate parts and as a whole.

The data needed to achieve this will be collected through qualitative research methods including literature review, phenomenological research through interviews, ethnographic research on the hospitality industry and on sustainability, and an immersive case study at a country club involving sustainability projects. The literature review will be expansive, with literature sections including cultural resistance to change and to sustainability, strategies for 'greening' a business, environmental impacts of the hospitality industry, and the importance of studying and involving the elite of society.

Expected results include the reoccurring advice that will emerge from the research such as the importance of community stakeholder involvement and the importance of overcoming misconceptions and cultural resistance for the success of sustainable projects. As of right now, pilot research has suggested at these results, but more research is needed to confirm this. The results from this research should shed some significant light on the environmental impact of hospitality and the amount of room there is for improving the sustainability of the hospitality industry. All results will be shared with the professional world of hospitality, through their respective magazines and such, in hopes of gaining recognition for sustainability and to persuade more businesses to take up sustainable practices. The significance of this research in particular is that there hasn't been much research published on the real life scenarios of the attempts to make a business sustainable. Sure, there is a lot that can be learned in the classroom, but what about the situations like failures in the real professional world that nobody wants to talk about. That is the information I am after, the experiences outside of the classroom so that the sustainability community and businesses can learn from others' trials, tribulations, and failures that seem to get hushed and swept under the rug.

Advise businesses in the hospitality sector how to become sustainable, what resources and opportunities are available to them, and why they should. These same concepts could also apply to other business sectors of the economy and to the rest of society. This also shows insight into why it is important to study the elite and is one case where there was research access to study the decision making process of those in power and behind closed doors. This research will exemplify why the focus of the sustainability movement should be shifted from creating sustainable possibilities and answers to focusing on getting society to accept and take up those sustainable practices

__**Draft Overview:**__ The study aims to increase the acceptance, uptake, and success of sustainability in the hospitality industry by analyzing the separate parts and whole of the hospitality business ecology for issues and opportunities concerning sustainability. From this analysis will emerge grounded theories for business owners and the hospitality industry on how to overcome issues for the success of those sustainability projects. There is also a strong inter-dependency between them and the separate parts of the business ecology that they participate in, that can either create opportunities or be disadvantaging. These businesses live within the community around it, so doesn't just fall on one business to be sustainable, but on the whole business ecology. A single business has the ability to encourage sustainability in others through it's business network and customers. There is advice on becoming sustainable that each node of the business ecology has to offer. This approach is best because it looks at the overall business ecology surrounding the hospitality industry and the different "nodes" of that ecology that would influence their ability and potential to become sustainable. These nodes include, as mentioned before, the businesses that they buy services from, the organizations and firms that advise in sustainability and the environment, professional environmental consultants hired into separate businesses, and the elite customers/members of hospitality businesses

This data will be obtained from hospitality businesses such as resorts, hotels, restaurants, golf courses, and country clubs through qualitative research methods. This study is important because of the ongoing crises of climate change and the need for humans to decrease their impact and demands on the environment. I will be carrying out a case study at a country club working on sustainable projects with the management and help from environmental and sustainability consultants. I will be interviewing Audubon, a variety of stakeholders at the club, another golf course in the area that has already been certified, consulting professionals, and with businesses that help to provide a sustainable service.

I have been working at the club as a waitress since June 2012 and as Administrative Assistant since June 2013, have gained insight into the business and already have close relationships established to enable me to understand what goes on and how it relates to sustainability within the business. Through the country club and my education in sustainability, I have connections to environmental professionals and to businesses surrounding the hospitality industry that I plan to reach out to as research participants.

The grounds for the structure of my research as an analogy of an ecological system as well as applying concepts of industrial ecology where the different nodes being the different businesses and professionals surrounding hospitality businesses that influence its potential for becoming sustainable. The sustainability movement hasn't been making headway due to an "analysis paralysis" effect, so the issues and resistance to sustainability need to be addressed so that sustainability movement can make progress. This research proposal focuses on the hospitality industry specifically because it is considered "low hanging fruit" because of its luxurious and wasteful image, and because I have access to carry out research at a country club, which is within the hospitality industry, but is very much a business none-the-less.
 * __ Background Section: __**


 * A Paradigm Shift in the Term "Resistance"
 * The environmental movement used to be described as "direct action resistance" to how society was being run at the time (Taylor from State of the World 2013). However, when I use the term resistance it is in describing the problems that are holding back the sustainability and environmental movement as a whole. I think this is because I have grown up in a later time with teachings that sustainability is needed for our future so it is inevitability that we are trying to work towards as best and as fast as we can. So there's been a shift in the thought that environmental sustainability is this radical thing that has to be fought for, to now when environmental sustainability is a change that will be happening in our culture, the only variable about it is how fast and smoothly we'll get there.
 * Hegemonic Backdrops
 * There is this image many people have of country clubs and golfing clubs from the outside looking in that is pretty negative. Their impression is that the members of those places are rich, usually pompous, are ignorant, can be uncaring, and live in a bubble detached from reality. This isn't always the case because a country club is founded by a community of people that care about each other, want to spend time with each other at leisure which means they intrinsically care about that community of people and the success of the country club. These views of that community of people can be a disadvantage for the sustainable community because these people could potentially be a supporter. In addition to that, this view of them could make them oppose the sustainable movement. (Much like what Schendler says in Getting Green Done.)
 * The perception of golf courses' impact on the environment usually depend on whether the person is actively involved in golf or not; golfers mostly think that a golf course is beneficial for the environment, whereas most non-golfers disagree ( pg 2, Hammond & Hudson). This suggests there could be a negative view of golf courses from the outside public of non- golfers. This can be applied to the hospitality industry as well, because people who don't buy into or live that life of luxury probably view luxury as being wasteful, which might not be the case for people like the elite of society who do.
 * Many businesses and economists believe that doing good by the environment means more costs and losing profit somewhere, but that simply isn't true. It doesn't have to be business and profits versus the environment. After all, the the p's of sustainability are people, PROFIT, and PLANET and the 3 e's are ECONOMY, ENVIRONMENT, and equality. However, this also paints a rosy picture that sustainability is this easy thing, but it isn't. It's usually hard, but more efficient and worth it in the end. The term sustainability and green also have many different connotations to them to start with, that these terms have, some think, become terms for "sustainababble".
 * ETHNOGRAPHIC INFO ON SUST AND ON HOSPITALITY OVER THE YEARS
 * Significance
 * the hospitality can be a leveraging point for sustainability, through the golf courses, the members, the hotels, etc
 * implication of research is to increase the acceptance and uptake of sustainability in businesses
 * aim is to improve sustainability by honing in on the issues that work against sustainability in business and analyze the ways to overcome those issues
 * points out the importance of including the elite in the sustainability movement, and not viewing them as the bad guys for the environment
 * gain immersive knowledge from working with the country club and its golf course, club house, restaurant, staff, and elite members
 * the opportunities and resources available to businesses in hospitality to transition to using sustainable practices
 * finding the truth behind the image of hospitality being the low-hanging fruit of sustainability, the truth behind their wasteful image
 * organizational standpoint - business ecology of hospitality has inter-dependencies
 * the organizational structure within a business, the stakeholder model, and it's role in the success of sustainable projects
 * Shift in Sign Systems; A Paradigm Shift - The changing environment of sustainability overall, of the use and definition of the term green, of the gradual acceptance of sustainability in business, the evolving image of country clubs and other hospitality businesses, and the change in the use of the term resistance.
 * Sustainability Movement Overall
 * The main focus of the environmental movement is now on the actual answers to cleaner energy and better efficiency, the actual projects, but it should have its main focus on the process itself, the actual process of getting to those projects, implementing them, and how to get everyone involved on board and why there are failures in this movement.
 * "Green" - might want to include something about the term sustainababble.
 * Green has a lot of definitions from being untamed and wild to symbolizing money. Nowadays green also symbolizes being environmentally sound and sustainable. what going green used to mean and what it means now - get more from "Truth about Green Business", "The Necessary Revolution", and other texts read from previous classes.
 * Sustainability in Business
 * Used to just mean to be able to stay open and running and being profitable/successful in the long run, long run for most businesses being 10 years into the future. Now sustainability has an environmental definition and includes the corporate social responsibility and reducing environmental impact while still being a successful business. - get more from texts
 * View of Country Clubs
 * the older generational view of the country club and the new generations view on the country club - will get more from interviews with members and from reading the thesis by J. Sherwood.
 * The term "Resistance"
 * The environmental movement used to be described as "direct action resistance" to how society was being run at the time (Taylor from State of the World 2013). However, when I use the term resistance it is in describing the problems that are holding back the sustainability and environmental movement as a whole. I think this is because I have grown up in a later time with teachings that sustainability is needed for our future so it is inevitability that we are trying to work towards as best and as fast as we can. So there's been a shift in the thought that environmental sustainability is this radical thing that has to be fought for, to now when environmental sustainability is a change that will be happening in our culture, the only variable about it is how fast and smoothly we'll get there.

__**Preparation and Pilot Studies:**__ I've been granted permission to carry out research at the Country Club of Troy which entails working alongside the superintendent to get the golf course certified as a green golf course by Audubon International. Further research at the club will include separating out food waste in the restaurant and hopefully more projects concerning rest of the clubhouse.

Pilot Interviews/Studies From this research overall, I expect that some repeating issues and advice will emerge such as:
 * Empire Zero, Tyler Holloway (food waste hauling company) - From my pilot interview with him I was able to gain some insight into the business market for a food waste hauling company. They don't advertise but never have a shortage of clients because institutions like to be able to brag about this green practice and it saves money. There is a law pending to be implemented that within the next couple of years will ban food waste from landfills, so this will be a growing business market.
 * Audubon International - Interview with Joellen Lampman - From the pilot interview I have gained some insight of what it is like for an environmental organization to work with businesses, golf courses in particular which hold this almost evil villain image for the environment. The findings of the interview include:
 * update once I finish transcribing - Audubon Interview and Notes
 * Joellen Lampan - who recently worked at Audubon International, came to one of my classes to discuss her career path and work experience. What I found most intriguing was her reasoning for choosing to work with Cornell over her other job prospect. I have this theory that the people who work in environmental sustainability must share certain characteristics or personality traits. I have thought about this before when I made the decision to study sustainability, it was because I knew I was smart and could be successful at many things, but what would I enjoy and what would help to improve the world the most? My main deciding factor in going into this field was that I wanted to make an impact on the world for the better and that many solutions to societies' problems could be found in sustainability. Years ago when discussing with my friend's mother about my choice of study and her reply was that you will need a passion for it because it will be very discouraging. So I have this theory that people in my field feel they have a higher calling to help better society, that they feel they must make a difference, they must be resilient and persevering in some ways, or something alike. They must share a personality or character trait, and I believe Joellen is the first to help me discover that.
 * important to collaborate with all stakeholders involved from the beginning
 * resistance to sustainability stems from the hegemonic backgrounds of the people in charge
 * there is the potential for the hospitality industry to make a huge impact on improving their industry's effect on the environment
 * longevity of the people involved correlates with the success of the projects in the end
 * the options of more choices can actually have a negative effect on happiness of a customer, there is a choice paralysis and it sets the bar unpractically high for the customer satisfaction

__ **Methodology and Plan of Work:** __ > __**Dissemination:**__
 * Aims - Analyze the business ecology structure of the hospitality industry for the circumstances in and surrounding businesses that provide opportunities and difficulties for businesses to shift to sustainability. Meet this aim by:
 * observing and analyzing where resistance to sustainability comes from in a business then find ways to work around those problems
 * figuring out what resources are available to a business that will make sustainability a success there
 * showing the untapped potential for the hospitality industry to move towards environmental sustainability
 * analyzing the business ecology of the hospitality industry to show the interdependence of the business nodes in that hospitality industry
 * finding issues that came up with sustainability projects in each of the nodes and take from that data reoccurring advice for businesses to become sustainable
 * __ Field Sites __ - Businesses and professionals from all the different nodes of the hospitality business ecology, including environmental consultants. This so far includes:
 * a case study at the Country Club of XXXX where I will be working alongside the superintendent to get the golf course a Green Certification, interviewing all involved at the country club about their views on and role in sustainability, working alongside the kitchen and wait staff in the restaurant to implement more sustainable practices
 * an interview with Audubon International, an environmental education organization that works to educate and advise land holders of proper and sustainable land management
 * an interview with Empire Zero, a food waste hauling company that is considered as a possible resource for sustainable practices available to hospitality businesses
 * In the future, I plan on reaching out to other hospitality businesses (hotels, restaurants, resorts, etc), service businesses (linen service company, food distributors, composting company, etc), and to environmental consulting professionals and organizations (NYSERDA, Murphy Consulting Firm, Jodi Smits Anderson-LEED AP, etc.) I am already connected to several of these people and businesses through my work experience at the Country Club and through my educational network.
 * __ Phenome ____ nological ____ Research - __ through interviewing people across the hospitality industry and surrounding it that have worked on sustainable projects, see if they have same experiences with issues and what helped the projects to succeed
 * noticed anyway that most of the interview questions for the separate interviewees would repeat, and this was why
 * Add to Literature Review of Ethnography - discuss broad cultural trends in sustainability and of the hospitality industry over time and use this to provide background for research, and then add on a status report of what's going on now, and what needs to happen in the future in order to surpass issues and promote sustainability
 * Case Study - immerse myself in a case study I proposed and got approval for at the country club, which is to work alongside employees/management to transition certain aspects of the club towards sustainable practices, while participating and observing to gain first hand knowledge of real life scenarios.
 * Grounded Theory - from all of these there should emerge reoccurring themes of issues and advice related to the success of sustainable projects, these will be the main result of research and will be theories that are grounded in the view of the participants, myself included.
 * Research Questions -
 * What is the current status of waste and environmental sustainability in the hospitality industry?
 * What are the views of sustainability from the hospitality industry overall? Do the separate parts such as hotels, restaurants, etc.have different views and does that affect the ability to become sustainable?
 * What are the resources available to these businesses to be more sustainable?
 * How can the services that are needed daily by these businesses be more sustainable and contribute to improving the business' impact on the environment?
 * Are there obstacles or hurdles that stand in the way of the hospitality industry becoming sustainable?
 * Are there reoccurring issues or advice that stem from the analysis of varying sustainability projects in this industry?
 * Does the organization and management styles within a business affect the success of a sustainability project?
 * Is over-indulgence and waste necessary to feel the luxury of being doted on? (is a certain extra waste necessary for hospitality?
 * Evaluation and Validity - how will I know that the conclusions are valid?
 * __ Research Ethics - __
 * **Low-hanging fruit can only be plucked once** - It would be unethical, I feel, just to let the results of this research only reach the hospitality industry, but it should also reach to businesses in general, wherever it might prove useful. Also don't want the message to be that it's okay to stop at reforming our worst environmental offenders or wherever it's easiest to change practices, it should go on to apply to everyone.
 * All of the people I plan on interviewing and plan on working with for the research are all relevant, but they are also on a **convenience basis.** That usually means that the group will be biased the same in some way. For example, all of them are going to be located in the New England unless I get funding to cover travel expenses of broadening the research to other areas of the country.
 * **I have worked for a year and a half at the country club** where I will be working alongside the superintendent and other co-workers for the research. That means that I will be doing research with people I already have a standing work relationship with. This will influence how the sustainability projects will be carried out, no matter how hard I will try to make sure that their relationships with me don't affect their views and thoughts on the projects at the club. When making observations about the projects at the club and the environment that is contributing to it's (hopefully) success, I will have to try to put myself in a different perspective and set myself apart from the feelings I already have towards my coworkers and my job position at the country club. ** I will have to make sure to not be biased or prejudiced ** so as not to affect what I notice, how I interpret the notes and observations.
 * However, be that as it may, because I have worked at the country club for so long and already have an understanding of how the club and it's employees work and the relationships between the differently positioned employees, **I will have the advantage of knowing the home field**. I should be able to provide insight into issues going on with a project that a professional environmental and sustainability consultant might not be capable of.
 * Since this is a private country club and golf course I plan on sitting down with the House and Board Committees to lay out any **privacy terms** that I will have to abide by such as if I can publish the club's name. If I can't publish the club's name then does that mean I have to anonymize all the information and interviews used from it's members as well? I will be laying all of this out in a consent form in which I and a governing member of the club will sign.
 * I am **choosing a wide variety of members to interview** at the club based on helpful previous knowledge I have of them, such as their support of certain political views, they are avid golfers, don't like playing golf, are bird enthusiasts, are older, are younger, single, head of a family, etc. When choosing members to interview I will also have to take into consideration whether or not they generally get along with me, the members that I know particularly dislike me I will make sure to stay away from because their **bias towards me** would likely affect their responses in interviews and how open and valuable the information they would share.
 * Because of the nature of my job at the country club, being a server and an administrative assistant, puts me in close communication with the members **I will have to plan ahead of time how I will respond when members ask me about my senior thesis.** How much should I share with them? I think I will respond as though I were holding a position within the club as an environmental sustainability adviser, such as what the club is hoping to achieve and what we are doing at the moment to get there, etc. I will leave everything about my thesis focus out of conversation so I don't make anyone feel uncomfortable or have them feel they have to act a certain way which could skew the results of the research.
 * Thesis will be kept on record at the RPI Library and will be published in a slightly different structured book.
 * I will be presenting to the Country Club Board Members about my experience researching at the club and the benefits the club gained.
 * I've already had some cross-expertise dialogue with Empire Zero, they were very interested about the club's restaurant and if sustainable practices would appeal to them, was able to shed some light to them how a club restaurant operates.