Núm. 04, julio-diciembre (2003)

It is a fact that the hospitality industry -- tourism-- is the socialeconomic activity with the highest growth in the world, by 2008 it will also be the largest industry in the world. Apart from being a fundamental generator of foreign currency, few people are aware that one of its most important effects is the exportation of "work". Service is the keystone of tourism and this is a subject everyone talks about, however it is difficult to define. The objective of the present article is to be a reflection about service and is the result of many years in the hotel industry. Based on interviews carried out with hotel managements and students, it aims to answer the following questions: what is service?, what importance does it have?, is it possible to measure service?

Man by nature carries out his activities in spaces limited and designed by himself, however it would appear the importance to the users is forgotten until something does not function. A proyect is an element which must support itself in its structure and be supported by the people who inhabit it. This architectonic space must be the result of a detailed analysis based on the geography, history and psychology of the user and it must have an absolute communion with the environment and the construction; and naturally with its inhabitants. It is important to respect space, in order to be able to rescue the functional and dynamic sense it has, and to recognize it as responsible from its history and its time; if it does not give satisfaction to the senses it cannot be called architecture.

This article is based on the role language plays mainly in work relationships at a professional level. It looks at how the domination of the language guarantees professional success, in that it permits the participants to establish a harmonic work relationship, and how, on the contrary, deficiencies in the language provoke professional failure, as the participants have communicative problems which affect the work relation. First we define the communicative act as an event in which there is a transmitter, a receiver and a-message which is transmitted in a channel using a code and thus a situation of communication is produced which affects the work relationship, with a specific intention. Then we analyse the complexity of the communicative event and the problems which arise from the coding, the decoding and the grammatical construction of the message. From there, the role, that language plays in the working environment (mainly professional), is determined and how our linguistic function leads to either professional success or failure; this is how professional success is directly linked to communicative success. Finally we look at the topic of the written language, we compare it with the oral language and observe the main problems which occur at this level and we also look at the occurrence of the written language in professional relationships.

Obsesity has been related to the disturbances in feeding behaviour due to the frequent desire of obese patients to lose weight or recover their ideal weight. These people tend to fall into a restrictive feeding conduct or in the so-called diets. The nil or partial efficiency of a diet can lead to the obese patient suffering disturbances in his/her alimentation. It is not enough to only use a medical treatment to attack the numerous organic variables. There is also the need of the intervention of other specialists, such as psychologists and nutritionists, to achieve reliable and lasting treatment and results in obese people.

The direction of an organization is responsable for the vision, mission and values of the company, key elements to face the long term challenges. It must, also, promote the practice of a discipline for the analisis and evaluation of both the internal situation and the enviroment of the company, this is known as SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). Only thus the objectives and strategies can be established and followed to achieve the optimum functioning of the organization as a whole.

El mercado global, la multiplicación, diferenciación e innovación de la oferta y la segmentación del mercado, están poniendo al servicio por encima de otros elementos distintivos de una empresa, aquél se constituye en la carta de presentación de las organizaciones. Las empresas se enfrentan ahora a un cliente que posee mayor conocimiento y capacidad para rechazar lo que está por debajo de sus expectativas. Por ello las organizaciones están considerando a la clientela como núcleo y detonador del desarrollo del nivel corporativo.

This article is a brief introduction to administrative control systems in which a methodology is presented to implement an administrative control system. It includes the most commonly used tool at present for this type of systems: a control table. An example is given of the application of these concepts in the hospitality industry.

Wine in gastronomy occupies a special place. No other beverage accompanies food so well. This present article emphasizes those qualities which make wine an excellent aperitif or an indispensable element in the enjoyment of a meal; and also, recognizes the importance that the training of service personnel for food and beverages has in order to show the particular characteristics of wine. Tasting of the wine constitutes the ultimate link of a chain, which started with the grape harvest.