Hotel Quality Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hotel Quality Management - Research Paper Example Customers who request for a room change spend several minutes before they are reallocated another room. This has proven to be ineffective to customers and hotel departments. Other room services such as newspaper delivery and baggage storage also require improvements. Most of the processes that take place in the hotel are done manually, and there is minimal use of technology. Guests have to call for transport at the check-out time since there are no prior arrangements or contracts with transport companies. These activities and processes compromise the quality of services offered by the hotel, and may drive away some customers. Automating the check-in and check-out process would greatly improve the hotel services. A quality system empowers workers at several levels in the hotel in order to establish guest service expectations and device the best way to meet or exceed these expectations. An online check-in system would prove effective in providing quality system. This would help custome rs conduct booking processes via the internet and make payments online. Currently, the hotel uses a manual identification process, which involves checking identification documents. A computerized check-in process would enable hotel attendants verify the identity of customers automatically. Online services can also conduct room changes before they check-in to the hotel. Room change processes usually consume a lot of time before the new room is prepared. Conducting these requests before the guests check-in would save the amount of time spent. The check-out process is also conducted manually by checking the identification of the customer and retrieving customer accommodation information manually. Guests have to line up at the front desk to clear from the hotel. A computerized system would automate the confirmation process, and guests could check-out of their room without lining up at the front desk. Guests are presented with their bill at the front desk, which increases the amount of t ime spent. An efficient system would enable guests receive their bills before leaving their rooms. The hotel does not conduct a customer satisfaction survey about their services. Collecting customer feedback would enable the hotel improve different areas of their services, which did not please the customers. A guest email service would facilitate the collection of customer feedback and assist the hotel management to process the collected data. The core of quality management is to steer the business towards an improved performance. It has three main components, which include quality assurance, quality control, and quality improvement. Consistent quality is achieved by not only improving the condition of services, but also by improving the processes (Jones and Lockwood, 2004). This involves eliminating or minimizing defects present at the business processes and type of services offered. Customer and investor satisfaction are directly linked to the quality of services provided in the h otel. A hotel quality system would reduce competition from other hotels with the help of benchmarking. The hotel would have a mechanism of measuring the degree of customer needs and expectations through the customer feedback system. The hotel would then match these expectations and needs against the perceived quality. Automating the

Analyzing Concerns in Preemployment Testing Assignment

Analyzing Concerns in Preemployment Testing - Assignment Example A libel suit, therefore, arises from the defamatory stories that the complainant accuses the former employer for spreading against him. In this case, it would be perceived as a labor dispute (Walsh, 2013). In this scenario of drug use, I believe that the person in fault is the office worker for having negligently acted towards the recording of such a statement against one of their employees. She, in fact, acknowledged that the statement about the positive drug test was a ‘mistake on her part’. First, they argue that the former employer has defamed their names and tarnished their reputation by allegedly linking them to a positive drug test which was not the case. In reality, the office employee who was tasked with the reporting of the same is the one who had erred. Second, they argue that the alleged altercation at the truck stop did not happen as even the official records of an arrest or even proof that it happened could not be traced. Third, the complainant argues that it is, therefore, out of context for the prospective employer to refuse to hire or employ him based on these allegations from the former employer, which have no basis as none can be proved or accounted for. In general, the complainant distances himself from any arrests which might have been recorded against his name. The prospective employer defends itself from the allegations of refusing to hire the truck driver based on the reports they get from the former employer, to which they take as true. This is because the former employer has not denounced them as false. On its part, regarding the arrests, the former employer defends itself by stating that it had received several reports that the driver had been implicated in an altercation with another driver at a truck stop and put the information in the driver’s personal file. However, no mention is made of the authenticity of the reports the employer records to which the

Mill Locke on Liberty Essay Example for Free

Mill Locke on Liberty Essay Through out history, many philosophers have discussed the rights of mankind such as existence, liberty and especially property. In the work â€Å"The Second Treatise of Civil Government† written by John Locke, mankind’s natural rights are critically examined one by one. This essay aims to discuss whether John Stuart Mill’s harm principle that he mentions in â€Å"On Liberty† can be exercised while not violating the natural rights of mankind or not. First of all, in order to find out the consistency of Mill’s harm principle with Locke’s natural rights, briefly one should examine Locke’s definitions of state of nature and state of war. For Locke, when men live together reasonably and have right to judge each other, without a common authority such as a government it is called state of nature. For Locke, state of nature is a reasonable state that mankind live peacefully. And when men use force, or assert a design of force over other men and threat their lives, where also no common authority is present it is called state of war. Apart from the state of nature, in the state of war, Locke says that â€Å"every man hath a right to punish the offender, and be executioner of the law of nature† which drags men into continuous and endless wars and quarrels. Consequently, because of living in state of war, men could not make use of their natural rights such as right of existence, liberty, property, health, and punishment and judgment. One may instantly, without giving you a chance of defend, kill you, take away your freedom, seize you property and can do many other evil and unlawful actions. In order to prevent the brutal outcomes of state of war, Locke highlights the need of common legislative authority over the members of the community which will lead men to state of society where possessing natural rights would have a meaning and use. From these points, with a general survey, one can establish relations with Mill’s harm principle in consistency with natural rights. Mill’s harm principle lets government or such common legislative authority use power, force or other instruments over persons against their will in order to prevent someone to harm any other. And what Locke is seeking by introducing common legislative power is not much different with Mill’s presentation of harm principle. Let me support my stance by explaining the close relation between the natural rights of mankind and the principle. Right of existence and right of freedom cannot be secured in the state of war. The stronger members of the community would take hold of the others liberty which naturally have to be free from all superior powers and make them his slaves by at the same time threaten their lives, torturing and killing them. And putting forward that they can do anything they want and live in fully satisfied because of the natural right of liberty. But that is not the liberty of men. In such cases, rights of existence and liberty are attached to the willpower of the strongest although they are natural and given by god. True liberty is as Locke defines the freedom of men to follow their own wills and make their choices under the supervision of common legislative powers. So that for Locke such wills and actions that threatens others right of existence will not considered as natural right of freedom and not protected by government and vice-versa government will apply sanctions over whom uses right of freedom in bad faith. Then one shall say that Mill’s harm principle is put into practice over Locke’s natural rights of liberty. They joined together in the state of civilized society holding each other. Another very significant natural right that Locke talks about is property right. Firstly, he says that everything which lies on the earth created by god or nature belongs to the mankind in common. But mankind needs to use those unpossessed crops and fruits of earth in order to satisfy their needs and support and comfort of their being. Inevitably, concept of property is needed. Locke, at that point, says that whoever puts his or her labor on something that belongs to nature and community becomes the owner of that thing and constitutes title on it. The apples which in nature and owned by everybody, when gathered from trees by someone by mixing labor into, becomes the apples of the laborer or gatherer. By that way, I mean by mixing labor on something as Locke signifies, natural right of property can be established over something which is before common. However the question is, can one use Mill’s harm principle without violating Locke’s natural property right? The process of mixing effort on something is unclear. One may exert any kind of force and work to get the property of anything and may say â€Å"I have put my work on it† although actions may not legal, unjust, unfair and not protected by government. Another aspect is how someone can know and set apart the common and the owned property? Again he may put his effort on something which is already owned by another. The rule, first come, first served is not so determining and in practice many conflicts may occur. In both cases someone may get hurt by another’s actions. So in a sense, it seems harm principle is needed to be accepted by the government in order to prevent such harmful actions performed by ones who try to own something. In my opinion, in such cases putting into practice the harm principle is not a violation over property right, seems more like a limitation on behalf of mankind. Moreover, as Locke also explains everyone should not labor more than he could make use of, otherwise indirectly others may be affected by scarcity and lack of resources. At that point again harm principle can step in, and in order to prevent someone to acquire more than what he needs, common authority may exercise power on selfish ones. In conclusion, one may say that harm principle generally can be exercised by community while not violating the natural rights but limiting it on behalf of members of the society. Because as I tried to show that without such instruments, I mean harm principle, people who had bad faith in, can use natural rights in evil things.

Analysis of the U.S. Health Care System

Analysis of the U.S. Health Care System U.S. Health Care System Radhika Chhabra Healthcare within the United States has captured different people within the field such as business leaders, policy makers, and health experts to give the system a reformation. Within the year of 1993 and 1994 the United States government has changed over the course of the year and made sure that the reformation of the nation’s health care system stays intact. There are many underlying issues within the health care system and they need to have problems fixed as soon as possible and provide care to patients that are needed. â€Å"Unlike many other issues, the polls of American health care could be defined simply: health care costs too much and too many Americans go without needed care. Yet agreeing on a cure for those ills proved to be exceedingly difficult† (Cloyd, 2014). The United States carries on different ideas to improve their healthcare system and it seems like the way of expansion they need to have the proper access to provide the correct services that are needed within the U.S. health care system. Within the U.S. healthcare system the costs need to be lowered because the prices are tending to escalate within different organizations and the delivery of healthcare. The United States has been tied up within their problems and their main concern is the financial resources that are unable to be provided to them. This is one of the reasons why the U.S. depends on other countries to look for cures and other solution to provide medical care for patients. With different accesses that should be able to guarantee the control of costs within a health care facility. It tends to make it more difficult at times when they do not know what to expect and that ends up being risky and uncertain. The U.S. health care system needs to be successful with changing the system and the way they approach patients in the delivery. â€Å"Therefore the right question is whether measures exist that can improve conditions substantially within a reasonable amount of time. Different health care systems meet different needs and set different priorities. Each health care system tries to meet priorities, and in doing so each has disadvantages and advantages† (Cloyd, 2014). By reforming the healthcare system the U.S. should follow other countries institutions and making decisions what is best for their patients and their facilities. The consideration is that the country adopted other conditions from other countries and that makes it clarify that that it cann ot be possible to transition into another nation’s health care system. The people that are involved within the transition are the ones that are interested with specific features of other medical equipment and what they system provide to help patients out with their care. The U.S. system has different companies around the country that will provide medical care to their patients but have adaptation from different Japanese manufactures that will provide high quality techniques. The reason why the United States can adopt different aspects of different countries healthcare systems is because they can learn from each other on their culture and technology. People are showing the same and or different challenges that they face within a medical facility and for those reasons they are able to learn off one another. â€Å"Thus, the search for solutions has become global in scope, as the United States looks beyond its borders to examine how other industrialized nations provide and finance health care. Such lessons from abroad are made possible by cross-national comparisons and analyses of the extensive comparative data and information available† (Cloyd, 2014). There are different challenges that people tend to face within the American health care system and those are: the pressure of populations, the medical increases in costs and expensive procedures that are being done. Different nations are having a hard time of balancing these issues and making sure that they get resolved in a timely matter to making sure that everything works best for the patients. â€Å"There’s a bright side, to be sure. The U.S. leads the world in health care research and cancer treatment, for instance. The five-year survival rate for breast cancer is higher in the U.S. than in other OECD countries and survival from colorectal cancer is also among the best, according to the group (Kane, 2012). The US and other countries need to show an interest in another and see the benefits from each country and what they can provide for one another. Medical facilities need to feed off one another from different countries and see what they can provide and bring to the table that way their expansion can be bigger and better. Furthermore, there are different industries that have been approachable for these types of concerns that happen within the industry. The U.S. health care system and other industries need to discover in which ways to adapt and strengthen the industry to make sure it is a successful one. There have been different methods that have been involved to make sure that the international health care systems and the U.S. health care system are on the same page. The reason why it has become such an issue is because the different system has become a failure at the points of demonstrating the delivery of health care. The United States health care system is facing different challenges that show a clear enough indication to show the urgency of changing the delivery of the system. â€Å"Attention has rightly focused on the approximately 46 million Americans who are uninsured, and on the many insured Americans who face rapid increases in premiums and out-of-pocket costs. As Congress and the Obama administration consider ways to invest new funds to reduce the number of Americans without insurance coverage, we must simultaneously address shortfalls in the quality and efficiency of care that lead to higher costs and to poor health outcomes† (Brennan, 2009). The cast of the system is on a doubt because of it being feasible and reliable for coverage of the expansions that makes sure that the U.S. health care system will continue not to have large gaps within the industry. This means having people with access to their own insurance coverage(s). By improving the health care delivery system is to show the different improvements of the quality and the value of delivery that patients do receive. They do have to deliver the different issue of the escalated costs, the poor quality that is being delivered and the rising increase numbers of people who are without health care insurance. Medical professionals need to keep patients in a healthy state and making sure that they prevent any common illnesses. â€Å"Thoughtfully constructed reforms would support greater access to health-improving care — in contrast to the current system, which encourages more tests, procedures, and treatments that are at best unnecessary and at worst harmful† (Brennan, 2009). The health care quality gap is described as a gap of certain things within the population such as racial and ethnic groups. This gap is between the actual care that is being provided to what the best quality of care can be given or received. â€Å"The landmark Institute of Medicine report Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century challenges all health care organizations to pursue six major aims of health care improvement: safety, timeliness, effectiveness, efficiency, equity, and patient-centeredness† (Mayberry, 2006) . The equity in quality care is to show that all availability within the industry makes people not show the difference within race, ethnicity or other characteristics that can relate to patients care. The Baylor Health Care System is in a position that they can delivery health care that can lead to a system that provides equity research. Their organization provides different leadership involvement will make the employees achieve the bes t care possible. Furthermore, their access use and the way health care is delivered has to be more moral, ethical and deal with the economic issues that are raising questions for them to create a goal that needs to be achieved in a timely matter. By eliminating different problems within the health care industry they need to be strategized in a way where it will show the quality of improving the delivery of health care. â€Å"Quality performance indicators currently collected and evaluated indicate that Baylor Health Care System often performs better than the national average. However, there are significant variations in care by age, gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status that indicate the many remaining challenges in achieving â€Å"best care† for all. There is a significant gap between the quality of care the US health care system is capable of achieving and the quality of care it currently delivers† (Mayberry 2006). Healthcare safety and the quality that is being delivered make problems exist because of the different systems that are being provided to show the different levels that implement the care. By having the persistence in healthcare will also raise concerns in the overall quality of the care and have different impacts in the health care facility. There is a greater equity and insurance within the health care system to show the importance of it growing capability for business and individual people who are investors within the field. Different companies show the investment within the field by paying for their employee’s health insurance planes and they are showing an increase for concern. The reason for the concern is the quality of care that their employees are receiving from their providers that are showing a negative impact and the poor quality of care. The persistence of a medical gap is within the health care access and shows the outcomes by the different races and ethnicities the question the equity of health care. This also shows differences unfairness, the justice behind the discrimination within the U.S and different society struggles that people face. The gap in the quality of care shows the challenges to achieve the best care possible and they are the following: the increase of awareness and the importance in clinical quality and operations and showing the achievement of best care, showing a creating of cultural transformation in which people show the abilities to provide the best care possible. There should also be a cultural transformation where the equity has to be an important more of a clinical transformation, the creation of health care operation will overall improve the quality of health care practices. The effort and commitment to approve healthcare is the achievement of best practices possible that will fit the organization and fit that facility to show equitable care. There will always be issues that come up within the healthcare industry because at the fact it is always changing. There can be results that can help minimize the problems within the industry and a big resolution is implementing the EMR system into each medical facility within the United States. The electronic medical record will only provide better medical attention to patients that are receiving care. This also helps out different medical physicians in regards to accessing patient records within a timely matter and that way they can provide the patient with the best medical attention possible One of the strengths of having and EMR within a medical facility provides less paper and storage because everything is electronic and the country would save a lot of money on the paper use. â€Å"Reduced redundancy in record-keeping efforts and improved operational efficiency. EMRs have superior capabilities for storing, processing, and retrieving information and computerized methods are sign ificantly faster than paper-based methods† (Kumar Aldrich, 2010).The communication level between physicians and patients would be a lot stronger because the EMR system has a way of providing pictures of patient’s exams and it would be a lot more legible than a paper record and this gives the physician to able to give more time to patient and their needs for medical care. The EMR system improves the data accuracy and shows the services of billing and coding to be done easier and show a method of information that will prevent medical errors. EMR provides a better mechanism for analyzing and reviewing patient outcomes. Its flexible output formats could be customized to meet the needs of patients, payers, referral sources, and other parties who use health information† (Kumar Aldrich, 2010). With strengths there always comes weaknesses and the fact the EMR System is so expensive will put a damper on the government and the medical facility that will be implementing them into their facility. There have been estimated costs of $28 billion a year over a ten year development and then a $16 billion spread over the course of the implementations. Along with the costs there is also the system complication of how to navigate it and use it with the information that is given. There would always need to be a staff training and making sure that the staff clearly understands on how the system works and needs to be comfortable enough to navigate throughout the departments (Kumar Aldrich, 2010). Through the EMR systems they show the capability of giving healthcare initiatives of the governments showing the clinical research for policymakers, sponsors and researchers. â€Å"Research à ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ndings and the medical discoveries must be converted into useful products and services for physicians, patients, and health care providers. Clinical decision support systems (DSS) are vital components to enable this and can also substantially reduce the time of submission of higher-quality research data to the FDA for clinical trials† (Venkatraman Bala, 2008). The development Developing and improving the EMR system is to make sure that all the components are working smooth and sufficient and making sure that the public health is away from any danger, diseases and etc. Combining the EMR system with any type of clinical component will show the electrical tracking system of any indicators that need to be fixed. By fixing these issues will only help health care professional treat p atients for their medical needs rather than processing the medical records on their own needs. In conclusion the U.S. Healthcare industry needs to make some changes and needs to make them fast that way there can be great benefits involved for patient care. The implementation of the IT systems such as the EMR will only help out different medical facilities, medical physicians, medical personals and even patients to provide better health care. One of the main reasons the EMR system will provide better healthcare to patients is to show that the healthcare industry needs to provide to their patients and they need to provide the best healthcare possible. â€Å"The new health reform law will bring about sweeping changes to the American health care system, not the least of which involves extending health insurance coverage to millions of Americans that have previously gone without (Zamosky, 2014). People are now required to have health insurance and this will only help them and be beneficial to them when medical attention is needed. References Brennan, N. (n.d.). Improving Quality and Value in the U.S. Health Care System. The Brookings Institution. Retrieved April 27, 2014, from http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports/2009/08/21-bpc-qualityreport Cloyd, C. (n.d.). Health Care Systems: Three International Comparisons. Health Care Systems: Three International Comparisons. Retrieved April 27, 2014, from https://www.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/soc_sec/health.htm Kane, J. (2012, October 22). Health Costs: How the U.S. Compares With Other Countries. PBS. Retrieved April 26, 2014, from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/health-costs-how-the-us-compares-with-other-countries/ Kumar, S., Aldrich, K. (2010). Overcoming barriers to electronic medical record (EMR) implementation in the US healthcare system: A comparative study. Health Informatics Journal, 16(4), 306-318. doi:10.1177/1460458210380523 Mayberry, R., Nicewander, D., Qin, H., Ballard, D. (n.d.). Abstract. National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved April 28, 2014, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1426185/ VENKATRAMAN, S., BALA, H., VENKATESH, V., BATES, J. (2008). Six Strategies for Electronic Medical Records Systems. Communications Of The ACM, 51(11), 140-144. Zamosky, L. (2010, September 23). Health Reform Summary and Facts: Changes and Benefits That Affect You. WebMD. Retrieved April 28, 2014, from http://www.webmd.com/health-insurance/health-reform-summary-benefits

The Dutch Attack on Landguard Fort Essay -- Papers

The Dutch Attack on Landguard Fort Q 1. Source A tells us that the Dutch attacked with about one-thousand men, in five-hundred small vessels and landed near Felixstowe cliff. Many of these soldiers had pikes. Silas Taylor, the author of the source, says that "some part" of the Dutch army attacked the fort, which is an early indication of the rear guard left behind. This also points to a possible reason for the failure of the attack, in that the Dutch did not attack with the full force of their army. He says that one English soldier was killed, two were wounded and that the Dutch made two attacks. He says the Dutch attacked boldly, but were as boldly and resolutely answered. However, he could be saying that the Dutch attacked boldly to make the English defence sound even better. We are told that the Dutch were put to "fright and flight" by the small guns from a galliot. The small guns from this ship were fired into the area were the Dutch were taking cover, and pebbles were thrown up which made them retreat. This source gives the overall impression that the Dutch made a strong attack, but were "boldly" answered by the English. The reliability of this source, however, is questionable, as it was written by an English man, who is bound to be biased towards his own country. Also, he was watching form Harwich, which is roughly two miles from Felixstowe. Q2. Source F does not support source B. Source B says that the Dutch ships were "so close to Landguard Fort that we expect fire to be given at any moment". Source F says that the ships were so far away from the fort that their shots would "scarcely reach (the fort)." The Dutch ... ...re casualties. This also could have been linked to De Ruyter's reluctance to commit large forces to attack. It is likely he did not want to risk any unnecessary victims, especially when he was aware of the task facing him. Also, while this attack was happening, peace negotiations were being held in Breda. After the Dutch victory in the Medway, they had the upper hand in negotiating a deal. De Ruyter would have wanted to avoid a disaster at Landguard that could have changed the balance of power in the negotiations. This victory was not essential, but keeping his fleet together and in control of the English Channel was. Overall, I think that the Dutch attack was not committed enough, but this was planned by De Ruyter, He knew the strength of the English fort, and did not want to risk any unnecessary casualties.

Diversity of Education Essay -- College University Education Essays

Diversity of Education Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once stated, â€Å"Most†¦think that education should equip them with the proper instruments of exploitation so that they can forever trample over the masses. Still others think that education should furnish them with noble ends rather than means to an end.† What Dr. King was getting at in The Purpose of Education is that education holds many different values for many different people. How can we go about determining one standard value of a college education for a country so recognized for its diversity? Also, is it really true that everyone in our divergent society has an equal opportunity to attend a university? We cannot ignore the fact that the characteristics that separate us will ultimately have a profound impact on both our individual opportunities for and values of a university education. A kid growing up in poverty does not have near the same probability of graduating from a university as a wealthy individual does, and each learns to value post high school education accordingly. Do you think most poor hungry kids are going to think about college after seeing flashy drug dealers from their own neighborhoods driving Benzes, wearing designer clothes, loaded with jewelry, and toting matching Rolex watches? They know this kind of life is morally wrong, but do you think they would rather see their families continue to live like rats? Many of these kids have already dropped out of high school to better support their families by working a full time job. So many times funding is not the only problem. Sure, they could probably get financial aid to go to college and make even more money in four to six years, but hungry stomachs and overdue rent payments just can’t wai... ...cation to a much lesser extent. They usually go on to live a comfortable life, but they sadly remain stuck in their characterless world of superficiality. Lower class students learn to value their education the most, but rarely get the opportunity to do so. They end up as the realest people with the most heart, but go on to live life struggling. So the winners are those who find the perfect balance of opportunity and value, and in my opinion they are the middle class students. These students not only grow intellectually, but they also grow to improve a great deal in character. If these students can make it past the strenuous college years, they will go on to live a special balance of comfortable living along with a good personality. Life does not always appear to be fair, but sometimes we think we are losing life’s battle when we are actually winning its war.

Indian Cultural Background Essay

I have two cultural background which are Cherokee Indian and African American . Cherokee is really pronounced as â€Å"CHAIR-uh-kee† in our language. Cherokee comes from a Muskogee word meaning ‘speakers of another language’. Cherokee Indians originally called themselves Aniyunwiya â€Å"the principal people,† but today they accept the named Cherokee. But in their language it is pronounced Tsadagi . The Cherokees are original residents of the American southeast region, particularly Georgia, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Most Cherokees were forced to move to Oklahoma in the 1800’s along the Trail of Tears. The Cherokee Indians who survived this death still live in Oklahoma today. Some Cherokees escaped the Trail of Tears by hiding in the Appalachian hills or taking shelter with white neighbors. These people live scattered throughout the original Cherokee Indian homelands. Trail of Tears was the Cherokee name for what the Americans called Indian Removal. During the 1800’s, the US government created an â€Å"Indian Territory† in Oklahoma and sent all the eastern Native American tribes to live there. Some tribes agreed to this plan with no problem. Other tribes didn’t like this plan at all , and the American army forced them. The Cherokee tribe was one of the largest eastern tribes, and they didn’t want to leave their homeland. The Cherokees were peaceful with the Americans. So they asked the Supreme Court for help. The judges decided the Cherokee Indians could stay in their homes. But the President, Andrew Jackson, sent the army to march the Cherokees to Oklahoma . They weren’t prepared for the journey, and it was winter time. Thousands of Cherokee Indians died on the Trail of Tears. Many Native Americans from other tribes died too. It was a terrible time in history. There are three federally recognized Cherokee tribes: the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, the United Keetoowah Band in Oklahoma, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina. Other Cherokee communities in Alabama, Georgia, and other states are considered unofficial by the US government. The Eastern Cherokee people live on a reservation. Indian reservations are lands that belong to Native American tribes and are under their control. The Oklahoma Cherokee people live on trust land, though many Cherokees call it a reservation anyway. The Keetowah Cherokee do not have a land base. Each Cherokee tribe has its own government, laws, police, and services, just like a small country. However, Cherokee Indians are also US citizens and must obey American law. In the past, each Cherokee group was led by one war chief and one peace chief. Cherokee chiefs were chosen by a tribal council. Cherokee war chiefs were male, but the peace chief could be a woman. Today, Cherokee tribal councils and chiefs can be either gender and are popularly elected, like senators and governors. Most Cherokee people speak English today, but 20,000 people also speak the Cherokee Indian language. Cherokee is a complex language with soft sounds. The Cherokee language has an innovative writing system that was invented by the Cherokee scholar Sequoyah. Sequoyah’s writing system is a syllabary. That means one character represents each syllable. The other cultural background is African American .