TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY - Essay Example In this way, science is a unique human endeavor that does not compare to other issues like social concerns (Volti 7). According to Volti, other human efforts do not have this unique progressive characteristic that sets science aside. For instance, the works of Shakespeare, and the concept of the Bible is a great achievement that human beings value. However, when it comes to technology and science, the old computers are not valuable anymore but rather a new progress is more exciting. Dependency on technology is an old practice for the human race which makes it a cultural element. This is because technology is a creative sensation of intangible investigation that has the power to free humans’ attachment to precise models and principles in a bid to generate more fitting cultural practices. It is the way of life for the human kind with the potential to develop into something more acceptable and appealing (Volti 7). Technology and science signifies the human vision of continual development that is valuable. For instance, in some countries technology has grown but other human efforts like equality are lacking. It is evident that Nazi regime developed the most unique cars like Mercedes but killed millions of Jews and other groups (Volti 7). The scientific understanding that generated â€Å"technology†, â€Å"progress† and â€Å"rationality† is closely related. It is evident from various scholars that technology growth is what has signified progress since the olden days. Technology has modeled how human beings view the world through the realization that progress is part and parcel of life. It is through the understanding of this belief that rationality is born in regards to technology. In a scientifically advanced society, problems are analyzed in a logical manner and solutions to these problems are possible. For instance, it is rationality that leads human beings to see severe weather as a pattern

Sarah Palin Essay Example for Free

Sarah Palin Essay John McCain, the Republican Presidential candidate, recently announced his choice for running mate as Sarah Palin, little-known Governor of Alaska, Since this announcement, dialogue in the media, between aisles in the supermarket, and around the dinner table has been abuzz. â€Å"How can she do it? † they ask. Palin is a mother of five beautiful children, including her youngest who was born with Down syndrome. It was recently announced that Palin’s oldest daughter Bristol, 17, is five months pregnant herself. Many people in the public believe Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy casts a negative light on this candidate’s skills as a mother. Others argue that her child’s actions or disabilities have nothing to do with her ability to serve our country well. Sarah Palin’s entry into this already crazed election brings back the long debated question of whether or not it’s truly possible to â€Å"have it all. † I’ve been surprised that women are so drastically divided on this topic. My expectations were that women would support a female candidate and communicate empathy for her challenges and ability to balance motherhood and a career. Instead, Sarah Palin has been the target of numerous harsh, and even abusive, media reports and expressions of public opinion. As a mother and another female professional working to further my career, I can relate to Sarah Palin’s struggle and the stigma she faces in our society. It may seem as though the United States has adopted a mindset of gender equality, but even a self-labeled feminist was quoted by the Boston Globe to say, â€Å"I dont really understand how she can be governor  with all those kids to deal with, never mind Vice President of the country! My research revealed Sarah Palin’s husband works part-time and is able to dedicate much of his time to raising the children. If we don’t believe a politician can be an effective leader and a good parent, then why don’t we question the family roles of all the men that have occupied these offices for centuries? Sarah Palin has already proven her ability to balance remarkable responsibilities during her role as Governor. An article titled â€Å"Questions for a Superhuman Mom† claims Palin breastfeeds her son during meetings and has even fired a chef appointed to the Governor’s mansion so she could cook her family’s food. I consider these actions evidence that Palin has already shown creativity and dedication to meet the challenging demands of both her family and her job. The criticism Palin and her family have received following the announcement that her daughter is pregnant is both unfair and wrong. While Bristol will undoubtedly need the support of her family to raise her child as a young mother, isn’t that an ideal circumstance for any young parent? Even if Bristol’s teenage pregnancy is viewed as a mistake, I don’t believe that reflects on the leadership potential of her mother. The fact that her mother has apparently accepted this reality and chose to announce it with dignity, surely anticipating harsh criticism, indicates this candidate is honest, straightforward, and willing to stand behind what she believes in despite potential backlash. It should also be noted that we do not know this young woman or any of the circumstances that surround her pregnancy. According to many of the same media reports that unfairly portray Sarah Palin, Bristol plans to marry her unborn baby’s father and the two have been dating for nearly a year. Teenage love might be peak our interest as news consumers, but what does it really have to do with the role of a leader? Like other women, I can relate to Sarah Palin. None of our families are perfect, but she loves and accepts each of her children with pride. During the Republican National Convention, Palin addressed the nation and introduced her family. After a captivating speech, she was joined by all of her children and her husband. Many political figures might have opted to leave their children or entire family out of the spotlight in light of that day’s controversial media coverage on Bristol’s pregnancy. Critics have a point that little is known about Palin’s stance on several noteworthy issues, but she should be given time to communicate her plans and provide evidence of her performance. So many of Palin’s personal decisions have been picked apart by the media, but few people have taken the leap to extrapolate her parental decisions as a positive sign for her appointment to Vice President. Palin is willing to send her own son off to war. She made the unusual decision to continue a pregnancy knowing her child would have a disability because she believed she and her husband could meet the challenge. She’s been a member of her children’s school’s PTA for longer than she’s been in office and she’s dedicated her scarce time and energy to improving schools. If it’s acceptable to criticize Sarah Palin for her personal life, I think it’s only fair to consider her strength as a well-organized and dedicated mother as a sign that she should also be given a chance to continue proving herself as a leader. Whether or not I choose to vote for McCain and Palin has nothing to do with my admiration her acceptance as this country’s first female Vice-Presidential candidate. She’s already proven there are many different kinds of feminists, mothers, and leaders. Before the media latched onto the finding that Bristol Palin is pregnant, much discussion swirled around the fact Sarah Palin’s youngest son, Trig, has Down syndrome. Sarah Palin and her husband have graciously shared their personal reaction to their son’s prenatal diagnosis and provided their pro-life beliefs as explanation for why they made a different decision than 80% of parents given the same news. Trig’s cognitive disability will offer new challenges for the Palin family, but by all accounts they have the financial resources and willingness to meet his needs and nourish his development into a happy, healthy young citizen. Mothers of children with Down syndrome are divided in their support of Sarah Palin, but many are eager for a public official to so closely understand their struggles with education, housing, healthcare, and equal rights for people with disabilities. I agree with mothers of other children with Down syndrome who feel like many in the media are being unfair to label their children as burdens making it impossible for one to parent and lead a balanced life. One mother of a five year old child with Down syndrome has been quoted in the Boston Globe to say, â€Å"If she has support, the sky is the limit. While I disagree that Palin can’t be or shouldn’t be a political leader because she’s a mother, my life experience tells me she will need support. If elected, any and all additional supports she and her husband might need would be available in Washington DC. She’s been able to manage four children for several years in a number of leadership positions, but perhaps the harsh critics are right. Maybe with the addition of a child with Down syndrome and the pregnancy of her young daughter, Sarah Palin will need reinforcements to provide what her family needs. Is that such a horrible possibility? It seems odd that many members of the Democratic party profess whole-hearted agreement with the quote, â€Å"It takes a village to raise a child. † Yet if Sarah Palin suggested she or her family might benefit from support, it would be viewed as an utter failure of her ability to â€Å"have it all. † I hope Americans realize that there’s no harm in supporting each other and accepting the fact that there are many different ways to lovingly raise children. Many single mothers expect to be treated as equal professionals. It’s a dangerous accusation to make that even with support a woman can’t simultaneously function well as a leader and a parent. I’m still educating myself about the views of Palin and all the candidates, but our shared experiences make her a political and public figure that I can relate to in several ways. If anything, her addition to this election makes it more interesting to me and perhaps a more important turning point for our country.

De-jobbing

De-jobbing INTRODUCTION In ever changing modern world successful job candidates should know and do more than their job descriptions require. That is what global companies require from their employees these days. In other words by ‘reducing of workforce or ‘mass layoff global companies want to reduce their workforce. This however, has led to de-jobbing in many companies. De-jobbing refers to the fact that jobs often change every day and cannot be specifically described in the traditional ways. Definition of de-jobbing cannot be found in many publications but according to ‘answers.com de-jobbing represents the gradual reverse of the process that created an employment driven economy now becoming obsolete as a result of globalisation and technological advancement which makes it unnecessary for every business unit to reinvent the wheel. ( http://wiki.answers.com ) Nowadays knowledge is available in push of a button for everyone, for that reason organisations are looking for multi skilled employees in a flatter organisation. This paper will discuss and debate if de-jobbing is ultimately a product of the rapid changes taking place in business today or not. So why are companies and organisations trying to use de-jobbing more and more, what is the real reason behind it? To answer these questions the real world examples needed, some global and local organisations will be shown as examples to have better understanding of de-jobbing, to be more specific journal articles and newspaper publications about de-jobbing will be revealed. Job Before making first steps towards de-jobbing process, what is the understanding of a ‘Job in our society? Business Dictionary describes it as a group of homogenous tasks related by similarity of functions. When performed by an employee in an exchange for pay, a job consists of duties, responsibilities, and tasks that are defined and specific, and can be accomplished, measured and rated. ( businessdictionary ) In other words it s the activity which individuals do to earn money. Endless economic crises, bankrupted companies, unsuccessful businesses have taught both the employee and employer one very important lesson. For the employer to hire people who work well, who will add something to the organisation and for job seekers to look for that kind of job which will give them perfect career and good wages in return. At the end of the day everyone gets paid for what they do and how they do it. Here is the important bit for companies who want to cut their labour costs but end up firing wrong people or by not organizing the downsizing accordingly. De-jobbing As continued from the ‘Job section of this paper it is important that organisations hire and fire right people. In many organisations today, jobs are becoming more nebulous or shapeless and more difficult to define and understand, meaning one thing, the trend is towards de-jobbing. It is a broadening the tasks of the company jobs, and encouraging workers not to limit themselves to whats on their job descriptions is a result of the changes taking place in modern workplaces. In other words one person does more than what they should normally do in the workplace, or doing many different things which were not even mentioned in job description. Companies need to tackle with ever changing trends such as technological change, competition with rivals, deregulation, political instability, social changes, and the shift in economy. Companies do these things to be more competitive, and responsive, and generally more flexible. In other words, the organisational methods managers use to complete this have helped weaken the meaning of job as well as a well defined and clearly described set of responsibilities. Something dramatic is going on in our world, to be specific we are witnessing the disappearance of jobs. Not some particular jobs in certain that are disappearing but the very thing itself, â€Å"the job† that is fading away. It is not a joke or something like that but it is what happening these days, ‘Yes. Take for example farmers many jobs within that industry disappeared because of computerization or machinery. Robots do it for us, thus leaving people to look for something else to do. Very good example can be the services we use nowadays, in the banks when paying money in and out in many banks we cannot see cashiers anymore, computers can do it for you. There are many examples of such situations but those will be discussed in latter pages of this paper. After few decades, modern world will marvel that we couldnt see more clearly what was happening. And then again looking 50 years back who would have imagined the world of today? We people will observe how fixated we were on the continuing rounds of layoffs, the growing use of temps, and the occurrence of outsourcing. The time will come when the job itself wont be good enough to accomplish a given task. There are and were predictions that there would be labour shortages in some parts of the world, and that there would be so many jobs that it would be workers market not the job givers, but that has not happened, and there are many reasons for that. One of the biggest reasons remains to be advancement in technology, or rapid advancement in technology, so fast that no one could predict it. And then there is constant migration of people, perfect example can be United Kingdom itself. When European Union expanded towards Eastern Europe many people from those countries moved to west Europe t o work. Many companies benefited from this migration in many ways. All these have again proved specialists and so called experts wrong in their future predictions. The point is that there will always be people to do the jobs, but will those be the right people for those positions or slots. There is a change coming to our understanding of jobs and the way we do them. People are afraid of change, for some it is difficulties, difficulty to learn something new to stay in his/her position, but for some that change is opportunity; opportunity for those who know how to turn change, to their advantage. Furthermore it will be opportunity for people who believe in themselves and how they will take their chances. Even if jobs or businesses of those people are not innovation minded in those conditions, they will need to deal with that sooner or later, because that will be the defining moment for future of their jobs or businesses. The change which we are talking here is ‘de-jobbing which is already happening. There are many examples of modern institutions which have taken big steps towards de-jobbing their jobs. How should businesses respond to these new realities? Good answer will be to teach and educate employees about what company is trying to attain, and show them where their piece of work stands in the bigger picture. However, this may take time and outcomes might be disappointing. Management would say that employees just dont get the idea of what we are trying to do, but better answer is to address the issue straight that people holding on to their jobs. But in reality what management fails to see is that, management themselves directing people and showing them what to do, how to do it and then paying them for that. Nowadays we can see many people getting paid for their innovations, technology and computing sector leading the way. Those people manage themselves; there are no supervisors or managers checking their performance and work rate. And the interesting thing about is that they work for companies not themselves and still get paid much better. That is not what we used to mean when describing a job, but there are people who do those kinds of jobs. So what are the chances that in future many people will do that kind of jobs? Throughout centuries we were looking for faster production, faster distribution, faster service and what makes that possible? Special minds, innovative minds gives us such advantage, it was and will be like that for decades to come. The jobs are vanishing as a result of these things, this is where de-jobbing happens. One person does multiple tasks on its own, and in some cases does it much better than two or group of people of course by help of machinery, robots, and computers and so on. For that reason organisations right to give their employees multiple tasks, because in some organisations there are many small things need to be done that management cannot just go and hire someone else to do that job for them. There are organisations which are cutting their expenses by taking such actions which are profitable for them. Or some of them are reducing management levels, there are many companies which have taken such actions and succeeded with it. Lets look at some types of organisations where such things can be done. The Boundary less Organisation: In ‘Boundary less organisation the widespread use of teams and cross-functional task forces reduces and makes more permeable the boundaries that typically separate departments such as customer services and sales, and hierarchical ranks. In such organisations foster responsiveness by cheering employees to liberate themselves of ‘it is not my job attitude which naturally create walls between one employee and another. Instead the focus is on concentrating on project or task at hand in terms of the overall best interests of the organisation, thereby further reducing the thought of a job as a clearly defined set of duties. Reengineering Re-engineering is the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of the business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service, and speed. ( http://www.citeman.com ) The old ideas and rules of the company should change fundamentally, at the same time beliefs which shaped the main structure and management of business for many years like divided work groups or divisions within the organisation should be retired. Jobs can be reengineered in many ways, for example one way is to assign group of people for few relatively enlarged and enriched jobs. This makes whole group responsible for the result rather than one person. It will give more responsibility to the group, results can be judged by the performance of that group. By doing so team will become more responsible and there will be mutual respect within the individuals. Downsizing It is the way of life in many organisations these days. If organisation loses money, or is not performing well, downsizing comes to mind. Many managers think that by downsizing company can improve its overall performance and that it will make huge profits by doing so. But in experience it is not really effective, results are not encouraging enough to say that by downsizing business will do better. It is intended to show positive results, but it does more harm than good to some businesses and their workforce. Downsizing is reduction in size of workforce as all staffing levels, to survive a downturn, improve efficiencies, or become a more attractive candidate for acquisition or merger. ( businessdictionary ) Main reasons behind the downsizing are to reduce expenses and costs, reduce the management hierarchy to fasten the decision making in management level, sharpen focus on core competencies, satisfy the shareholders and increase the productivity. While organisation might or might not benefit from downsizing is yet to be seen, but it surely leaves some effects within the organisation and externally as well. One of the big sufferers of downsizing is workers within the organisation. Downsizing can bring stress and motivation disruptions in the workplace. Workers will be in constant stress of being the next person to leave the company. This can increase the anger and fear among workers. Employees will have low commitment to work due to constant fear, such things might negatively impact on customer service department and can leave negative impact on productivity and the quality of the job done. While, survivors of such actions might experience more stress of long hour shifts and more responsibility added to their work, and anxiety about future downsizings. Downsizing plays big part in de-jobbing process, and many companies have no choice but downsize first and do de-jobbing afterwards. Experts say downsizing is not good for the overall performance of the company, but then again organisations do downsize no matter what experts say. The results are yet to be seen as world goes through one of the biggest crisiss of all time, and many companies downsizing, the real effect of downsizing will be seen in 2 or 3 years time. Why? Because ‘Credit Crunch era many companies applied downsizing and that there will be more cases after this crisis to discuss rather than now. Examples Here are some examples from worlds global and local businesses on how they have experienced the de-jobbing process and have they succeeded with their actions or not: Prezzo PLC there were numerous changes in many sections of the company, notably in restaurants of the company. The management decided that everyone must do more than what their job responsibilities are. Such as waiters doing the jobs of assistant managers and chefs must order the stock. Workers of course wouldnt get payed more money for their efforts but there were arguments within the staff that ‘this is your job and that is yours kind situation, which creates disorder in working place. Lloyds TSB Bank the bank announced that it will cut 5000 jobs in order to cut its expenses and be more competitive against their rivals. The remaining staff would replace the ones who left. ( The Guardian, 2009 ) BBC the BBC is to cut 2050 jobs aimed at saving hundreds of millions pounds a year. Cuts will include 420 in news, 66 in sport, 150 in drama, 735 in the regions, 58 in new media and 424 in factual and learning. That will follow the previous 1730 job cuts. Director general said that there were risks in undertaking change on such a large scale. But underlined they have staff in place to replace them. ( Evening Standard, 2009 ) Versace is to slash one quarter of its workforce which is 350 jobs worldwide by the middle of the next year. In a statement, group said that it was preparing a comprehensive corporate reorganisation designed to increase efficiency, return the group to profitability in 2011 and ensure its future growth prospects. ( The Times, 2009 ) Ericsson is to axe up to 700 jobs, more than 17 percent of its UK workforce. Company announced that this move is part of Ericssons ongoing global cost reduction activities and is subject to consultations with trade unions and employee forums. ( The Times, 2009 ) Fujitsu Company announced plans to cut 1200 jobs in UK. The company said today that the cuts will come at its services business, saying that action is necessary to ensure that the company remains competitive in the difficult global economic climate and is in a solid position for future growth when the economy starts to recover. ( The Telegraph, 2009) Rolce Royce the defence and aerospace group, plans to cut 140 jobs in the UK as part of a move to axe 2000 jobs globally. Company statement says that they are determined to maintain their focus on cost reduction and competitiveness as the world economy enters a challenging period. However, it was too early to determine the precise effects of the global economic downturn. ( The Telegraph, 2008 ) Scania the Swedish heavy vehicle and engine manufacturer plans to dismiss 70 employees from its factory in Brazil. Company spokesman described the situation by stating they had an excess of workers and that they had to reduce. ( nordicbusinessreport ) British Airways is to cut 1700 cabin crew jobs and freeze pay as it continues to slash costs. The change will cut the number of cabin crew jobs by 1700 reducing the current total of 14000. And also airline confirmed that it was planning two year pay freeze on the basic pay. All of which company says are efforts to change the overall structure of Airlines business strategy. ( the Independent, 2009 ). Midwest Airlines announced its plans to reduce its workforce by about 1200 employees, or 40percent of staffing levels. The reductions will take the form of furloughs or position eliminations, depending on job function. Company also informed that reductions are spread throughout the airlines flight operations and in-flight operations. This action is taken to reduce the costs and improve the competitiveness of the company. ( Journal of Transportation, 2008 ) Compaq the personal computer group blamed the sharp slowdown in Europe would lead to an additional 1500 job cuts. Company statement said that economic slowdown is spreading overseas, and that company will move more swiftly and go even deeper in their structural cost reduction programmes, by doing which company aims to achieve maximum competitiveness in such situations. ( The Independent, 2009 ) BT revealed to axe up to 15000 posts in the coming year. BT said it was aiming to cut the jobs through natural wastage, non replacement and voluntary redundancy. And that BT would do all it could to protect the jobs of its permanent staff, pledging that some workers would be redeployed and retrained. Company also announced that there will also be more flexible work patters introduced, including call centre staff based at home rather than in an office. ( The Journal, 2009 ) Novastar a residential mortgage lender and portfolio investor today announced a reduction in workforce to align its organisation with changing conditions in the mortgage market. It will affect about 17% of the company. The actions focus on the companys wholesale loan origination group and related functions, including employees in its headquarters. This particular action focuses on new rules company will implement in market. ( Business wire, 2007 ) AOL The American internet service provider plans to shed 5000 employees, almost quarter of its workforce, as it goes through a radical restructuring intended to reinvent the business in the face of falling subscribers. This restructuring will see many people doing de-jobbing in the face of these changes. ( The Guardian, 2006 ) Barclays Banking giant is to axe 188 jobs at call centres in Liverpool as it moves to an automated system for issuing ISA accounts. The bank said staff previously carried out the work are no longer needed and the job losses will affect call centres in Liverpool city centre. ( ITN , 2009) EMI music giant is to axe up to 2000 jobs as part of a drive to save future of the company. The cuts will be focused on the groups recorded music division, and that company was struggling for challenges posed by digital media. ( Yorkshire Post, 2008 ) Sainsburys were expected to axe 350 of its top managers this week. Those losses will be from London head office and will unusually include 80 senior executives as the group attempts to sweep away bureaucracy generated by its top heavy management. ( The Birmingham Post, 1999 ) Vodafone is all set to part company with 450 employees from its operations in the UK. Vodafone is to dismiss a fifth of its senior head office managers even as the firm would be recruiting about 500 sales and retail staff. Vodafone tells that they want to shift the emphasis from administration to sales. ( PTI, 2008 ) NTL were to axe 600 jobs from its workforce by the end of 2007. The cable giant said it would be outsourcing a significant number of jobs as well as cutting posts as part of its integration strategy following the merger with Telewest in March. ( The Guardian, 2006 ) Shell oil giant yesterday announced that it plans to axe almost a fifth of its offshore workforce, sparking industry fears about the safety of North Sea platforms. Company said job losses on 16 platforms in the Northern and Central North Sea would lead to improvements in safety, production and efficiency and that only a small proportion of the cuts would be maintenance related. ( The Scotsman, 2003 ) De la rue in 2004 despite making significant profit, worlds biggest banknotes and chequebooks producing company said that it will axe 350 jobs. De La Rue said it planned to return the expected 8 million a year savings to investors through a combination of progressive dividends. ( Evening News Scotland, 2004 ) Glaxo Smith Kline Britains biggest pharmaceuticals company, plans to axe 6000 jobs around the world as it faces up to the growing challenges in the industry. Competition from generic manufacturers and doubts about companys pipelines are posing a serious threat to the sector. ( PTI, 2009 ) Scottish Water in 2003 wanted to cut 900 jobs, the company had struggled with high costs arising from Scotlands Victorian drainage system and has been told by the regulator that it needs to make cost cuts. Spokesman for Labour Party in Scotland described situation as company trying to become more efficientand remain in public sector. ( The Telegraph, 2003 ) Conclusion All in all, de-jobbing is what we are facing these days. And if we want to be successful we as individuals must be alert for all the changes taking place around us. The world is on the brink of something big, in terms of change. Yes! Change important but can we keep up with the change which is happening around us or not that is the important point. As it was discussed in de-jobbing part of this paper, jobs as we know them are disappearing or vanishing. Who knows after a century there wont even be a word called job. De-jobbing is the word most companies like and would like to apply in their companies, because it allows organisations to get more than one thing from its employee. The style and the way we do our jobs are changing rapidly and it wont be a surprise to see one person doing multiple tasks a century from now. 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Types And Causes Of Liquidity Risk Finance Essay

Types And Causes Of Liquidity Risk Finance Essay In  finance,  liquidity risk  is the risk that a given security or asset cannot be traded quickly enough in the market to prevent a loss (or make the required profit). OR Liquidity risk is the current and prospective risk to earnings or capital arising from a banks inability to meet its obligations when they come due without incurring unacceptable losses. Liquidity risk includes the inability to manage unplanned decreases or changes in funding sources. Liquidity risk also arises from the failure to recognize or address changes in market conditions that affect the ability to liquidate assets quickly and with minimal loss in value. 2.1-Types of Liquidity risk: Asset liquidity   Due to the lack of liquidity in market an asset can not be sold it is basically subset of market risk. This can be done by: Widening bid/offer spread Making explicit liquidity reserves Lengthening holding period for Vary calculations Funding liquidity   Risk that liability: Cannot be met when they fall due Can only be met at an uneconomic price Can be name-specific or systemic 2.2- Causes of Liquidity Risk: There are many causes of liquidity risk liquidity risk actually arises when the one party wants to trading an asset cannot do it because in the market no one wants to trade that asset .The persons who are about to hold or currently hold the asset and want to trade that asset then liquidity risk become partial important to them as it affects their ability to do business. From drop of price to zero is very different from that appearance of liquidity risk. In the case when the assets price drop to zero then market said that asset is valueless. On the other hand when one party found that the other party is not interested in buying and selling of an asset then it become a big problem for the participant of a market to find the other interested party. So we can say that in the emerging markets or low volume markets the risk of liquidity is higher. Due to uncertain liquidity the liquidity risk is known as a financial risk. When the credit rating falls the institution may lose its liquidity, in this way rapid unexpected cash outflows, or as a result of this happening the counterparties may avoid the business of buying and selling with or borrowing the loan to the institutions. A firm is also exposed to liquidity risk if markets on which it depends are subject to loss of liquidity. The firm is also seen to the risk of liquidity when the markets in they depend are under the liquidity loss. Liquidity risks tend to compound other risks. If a trading organization has a position in an illiquid asset, its limited ability to liquidate that position at short notice will compound its market risk. Let us suppose a firm has a cash flows offsetting on a given day of with two different counter parties. If the counter party do not make the payment and become a payment defaults. In this way firm will have to make the cash from some other sources in order to make payment. Credit risk is the risk arises due to the liquidity. A position can be hedged against market risk but still entail liquidity risk. This is true in the above credit risk example-the two payments are offsetting, so they entail credit risk but not market risk. Another example is the 1993  Metallgesellschaft  debacle. Futures contracts were used to hedge an Over-the-counter finance OTC obligation. It is debatable whether the hedge was effective from a market risk standpoint, but it was the liquidity crisis caused by staggering margin calls on the futures that forced Metallgesellschaft to unwind the positions. As compared to the risks like market, credit and other risks the liquidity risk is also has to be managed. It is impossible to isolate the liquidity risk because it has the tendency to compound the other risks overall the most simple circumstances. Liquidity risk does not exit in the comprehensive metrics. In order to assessed the liquidity risk the certain techniques of asset liability management can be applied on a day by day basis. A simple test is conducted for the liquidity risk in ordered to see the net cash flows. Any day which shows a sizeable negative cash flow is of concern. Analyses such as these cannot easily take into account contingent cash flows, such as cash flows from derivatives or mortgage-backed securities. If an organizations cash flows are largely contingent, liquidity risk may be assessed using some form of scenario analysis. A general approach using scenario analysis might entail the following high-level steps: Construct multiple scenarios for market movements and defaults over a given period of time Assess day-to-day cash flows under each scenario. Because  balance sheets  differ so significantly from one organization to the next, there is little standardization in how such analyses are implemented. Regulators are primarily concerned about systemic and implications of liquidity risk. 2.3- Liquidity gap The liquidity gap is the net liquid assets of a firm. As a static measure of liquidity risk it gives no indication of how the gap would change with an increase in the firms marginal funding cost. 2.4- Liquidity risk elasticity: Culp denotes the change of net of assets over funded liabilities that occur when the liquidity premium on the banks marginal funding cost rises by a small amount as the liquidity risk elasticity. For banks this would be measured as a spread over libor, for nonfinancial the LRE would be measured as a spread over commercial paper rates. Problems with the use of liquidity risk elasticity are that it assumes parallel changes in funding spread across all maturities and that it is only accurate for small changes in funding spreads. 2.5- Measures of Asset Liquidity: Following are the measures of asset liquidity. 2.5.1. Bid-offer spread: The  bid-offer spread  is used by market participants as an asset liquidity measure. To compare different products the ratio of the spread to the products mid price can be used. The smaller the ratio the more liquid the asset is. This spread is comprised of operational costs, administrative and processing costs as well as the compensation required for the possibility of trading with a more informed trader. 2.5.2. Market depth: Hachmeister refers to  market depth  as the amount of an asset that can be bought and sold at various bid-ask spreads.  Slippage  is related to the concept of market depth. Knight and Satchell mention a flow trader needs to consider the effect of executing a large order on the market and to adjust the bid-ask spread accordingly. They calculate the liquidity cost as the difference of the execution price and the initial execution price. 2.5.3. Immediacy: Immediacy refers to the time needed to successfully trade a certain amount of an asset at a prescribed cost. 2.5.4. Resilience: Hachmeister identifies the fourth dimension of liquidity as the speed with which prices return to former levels after a large transaction. Unlike the other measures resilience can only be determined over a period of time. 2.6- Managing Liquidity Risk 2.6.1-Liquidity-adjusted value at risk: Liquidity-adjusted VAR incorporates exogenous liquidity risk into  Value at Risk. It can be defined at VAR + ELC (Exogenous Liquidity Cost). The ELC is the worst expected half-spread at a particular confidence level. Another adjustment is to consider VAR over the period of time needed to liquidate the portfolio. VAR can be calculated over this time period. The  BIS  mentions a number of institutions are exploring the use of liquidity adjusted-VAR, in which the holding periods in the risk assessment are adjusted by the length of time required to unwind positions.   2.6.2-Liquidity at risk: Greenspan (1999) discusses management of foreign exchange reserves. The Liquidity at risk measure is suggested. A countrys liquidity position under a range of possible outcomes for relevant financial variables (exchange rates, commodity prices, credit spreads, etc.) is considered. It might be possible to express a standard in terms of the probabilities of different outcomes. For example, an acceptable debt structure could have an average maturity averaged over estimated distributions for relevant financial variables in excess of a certain limit. In addition, countries could be expected to hold sufficient liquid reserves to ensure that they could avoid new borrowing for one year with certain ex ante probability, such as 95 percent of the time. 2.6.3-Scenario analysis-based contingency plans: The FDIC discuss liquidity risk management and write Contingency funding plans should incorporate events that could rapidly affect an institutions liquidity, including a sudden inability to securitize assets, tightening of collateral requirements or other restrictive terms associated with secured borrowings, or the loss of a large depositor or counterparty.Greenspans liquidity at risk concept is an example of scenario based liquidity risk management. 2.6.4-Diversification of liquidity providers: If several liquidity providers are on call then if any of those providers increases its costs of supplying liquidity, the impact of this is reduced. The American Academy of Actuaries wrote While a company is in good financial shape, it may wish to establish durable, ever-green (i.e., always available) liquidity lines of credit. The credit issuer should have an appropriately high credit rating to increase the chances that the resources will be there when needed.   2.6.5-Derivatives: The five derivatives that are discuss by bhaduri,meissner yon created specifically for hedging liquidity risk. Withdrawal option: A put of the illiquid underlying at the market price. Bermudan-style return put option: Right to put the option at a specified strike. Return swap: Swap the underlings return for LIBOR paid periodically. Return swaption: Option to enter into the return swap. Liquidity option: Knock-in barrier option, where the barrier is liquidity metric. other Funding sources are abundant and provide a competitive cost advantage. Funding is widely diversified. There is little or no reliance on wholesale funding sources or credit-sensitive funds providers. Market alternatives exceed demand for liquidity, with no adverse changes expected. Capacity to augment liquidity through asset sales and/or securitization is strong and the Bank has an established record in accessing these markets. The volume of wholesale liabilities with embedded options is low. The Bank is not vulnerable to funding difficulties should a material adverse change occur in market perception. Support provided by the parent company is strong. Earnings and capital exposure from the liquidity risk profile is negligible. -Quantity of Liquidity Risk Indicators: In order to assess the quantity of liquidity risk the following indicator should be used. Every characteristic is not necessary to be demonstrated. 2.7.1-Low: The sources of funding are abundant and provide a advantage of competitive cost. Funding is generally expanded. There is little or no reliance on wholesale funding sources or other credit-sensitive funds providers. On the sources of wholesale funding or others providers of credit sensitive fund in it there is no trust. The demand for liquidity goes above by the market alternatives and there are no any expected changes. Capacity to augment liquidity through asset sales and/or securitization is strong and the Bank has an established record in accessing these markets. The wholesale liabilities have a low volume with fixed options. The Bank is not weak to funding difficulties should a material adverse change occur in market perception. The parent company provides the support which is strong. Earnings and capital exposure from the liquidity risk profile is negligible. 2.7.2-Moderate The funding sources which are sufficient are available that provides a liquidity which is cost effective. Funding is generally expanded, by a few providers that may share their common objectives and their economic influences, but no significant concentrations. The wholesale funding is clear and it has a modest reliance. The market alternatives that is available in order to meet the demand for liquidity on reasonable terms. The Bank possesses the potential capacity to expand liquidity through asset sales and/or securitization. The bank has a modest experience in order to access these markets Some wholesale funds contain embedded options, but potential impact is not significant. The Bank is not excessively vulnerable to funding difficulties should a material. the adequate support is provided by the parent company. Earnings or capital exposure from the liquidity risk profile is manageable. 2.7.3-High: Funding sources and liability structures suggest current or potential difficulty in maintaining long-term and cost-effective liquidity. Borrowing sources may be concentrated in a few providers or providers with common investment objectives or economic influences. A significant reliance on wholesale funds is evident. Liquidity needs are increasing, but sources of market alternatives at reasonable terms, costs, and tenors are declining. The Bank exhibits little capacity or potential to augment liquidity through asset sales or securitization. A lack of experience accessing these markets or unfavorable reputation may make this option questionable. Material volumes of wholesale funds contain embedded options. The potential impact is significant. The Banks liquidity profile makes it vulnerable to funding difficulties should a material adverse change occur. Parent company provides a little or unknown support. Potential exposure to loss of earnings or capital due to high liability costs or unplanned asset reduction may be substantial. Liquidity risk management Achieving best practice Managing liquidity risk is often about applied common sense, like operational risk it requires a firm-wide approach and this places a high demand on the right processes and procedures. Any management information system used to mitigate liquidity risk should be: Accurate The best way of encouraging accuracy is to keep reporting simple. Communicative Report and information should speak plainly. Regular Timely reporting allows managers to judge changes in the market and their organizations liquidity profile. Comprehensive Must reflect your organizational reality, such as different entities, jurisdictions and regulations. Realistic Scenario must be rigorous if risk is to be identified in real situations. 2.8-Quality of Liquidity Risk Management The following indicators, as appropriate, should be used when assessing the quality of liquidity risk management. 2.8.1-Strong The polices are approved by the board and communicate guidelines effectively for the liquidity risk management and responsibilities are designated. The liquidity risk management process is effective in identifying, measuring, monitoring, and controlling liquidity risk. The process of liquidity risk management is effective for identifying liquidity risk, for measuring, monitoring, and controlling the liquidity risk. A sound culture reflects that has proven Liquidity risk is fully understood by the management in all the aspects. Management anticipates and responds well to changing market conditions. The contingency funding plan is well-developed, effective and useful. The plan incorporates reasonable assumptions, scenarios, and crisis management planning, and is tailored to the needs of the institution. Management information systems focus on significant issues and produce timely, accurate, complete, and meaningful information to enable effective management of liquidity. Internal audit is comprehensive and effective. The scope and frequency are reasonable. 2.8.2-Satisfactory Polices are approved by the Board which communicate adequately guidance for liquidity risk management and responsibilities are assigned. There may be a minor weakness present. The liquidity risk management process is generally effective in identifying, measuring, monitoring, and controlling liquidity. There may be minor weaknesses given the complexity of the risks undertaken, but these are easily corrected. .the key aspects of liquidity risk are reasonably understands by the management. Management adequately responds to changes in market conditions when changes occur in the market conditions the management respond adequately. The plan of contingency funding is adequate. The plan is current, reasonably addresses most relevant issues, and contains an adequate level of detail including multiple scenario analysis. The plan may require minor refinement. Management information systems adequately capture concentrations and rollover risk, and are timely, accurate, and complete. Recommendations are minor and do not impact effectiveness. Internal audit is reasonable. Any weaknesses are minor and do not impair effectiveness or reliance on audit findings. 2.8.3-Weak The Board has approved policies which are insufficient or incomplete. In one or more material respects the policy is incomplete .the process of liquidity risk management is useless in identifying, monitoring and controlling the liquidity risk This may be true in one or more material respects, given the complexity of the risks undertaken. The liquidity risk does not fully understand by the management. In the conditions when the market changes the management does not take any timely or suitable actions and do not participate. . The contingency funding plan is inadequate or nonexistent. The plan may not consider cost-effectiveness or availability of funds in a non-investment grade or CAMEL 3 environment. The information systems of management are deficient. The plan may be there but they do not adopted by the institutions, it is not reasonable, or they are not implemented as it should be. The information which is material may be a incomplete or lacking. Due to one or more material deficiencies the internal auditor coverage is missing or useless. 2.9-Common problems and misconceptions: Liquidity  risk  is one of the least understood and most underestimated risks that financial markets participants are exposed to. Reasons for this include: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Under normal market conditions,  liquidity  problems are not observed à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Liquidity  risk  does not lend itself to readily usable measures à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Despite specific BIS recommendations,  liquidity  risk  management  is left out of capital adequacy calculations due to a lack of control and regulation à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Liquidity  management is often confused with liquidity  risk  management à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Market and credit  risk  management  focus on assets, while  liquidity  risk can stem from liabilities as well Liquidity  risk  is also different in nature to market and credit  risk  and needs to be thought of differently; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Normal markets analyses (expected or going-concern situations) are insufficient; liquidity  risk  can only be understood with scenario-based stress testing à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Historical measures of  liquidity  are irrelevant; prospective views are essential à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Liquidity  risk  cannot be readily hedged, and can only be militated against through rigorous monitoring and controls à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The pricing of many instruments does not properly charge for  liquidity .

Failure of te Two-Party System Essay -- essays research papers

A valuable factor within any democracy is the presence of political parties. As dictated by Webster, a party is meant as "a group, which unites to promote or maintain a policy, a cause, or other purposes, as a political group." This definition can be easily simplified as individuals with a common cause. This is just the case with American political parties. They are ordinary groups of individuals with a common cause in hopes to gain political power. Within the United States, two political parties make up the majority, the Republicans and Democrats. Unlike many other democratic nations around the world, America is unique with their generalized lack of parties. However, there is a growing trend within America that implies the two-party system, which has been the leader in American politics, has started to become weak. When the United States initially formed as a nation, there were few differentiations between the people. Those with voting privileges were mostly white Anglo-Saxons. The greatest differences seemed to be developing around the issue of slavery creating a North versus South political atmosphere. Siding with the intelligence of the era, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, the federalist and anti federalist parties developed around opposing ideas regarding a written Bill of Rights. This form of elitism running the government was not unreasonable in a time when communication to the outskirts and rural areas of the nation wa...

Computers in the Educational System :: Education Teaching

Computers in the Educational System A little over ten years ago the world was on the brink of a monumental revolution. The computer was rapidly becoming more accessible to a wider range of people. Before the world knew it computers were brought down from a room sized machine that could only be operated by a trained professional to a shoe box sized machine that just about anybody could operate. Nowadays computers are used everyday of our lives. Computers can also be found in just about every classroom around the world. According to Stephen C. Howell â€Å"The introduction of computer technology into classrooms promises history’s most powerful and complex transformation of the learning process, powerful because of the extraordinary capabilities digital technologies offer, complex because of the high level of training necessary to utilize these technologies.† This paper will investigate both the â€Å"extraordinary capabilities† of the computer and the necessary training. As the computer boom really begins to takes off people are learning how to use computers at younger and younger ages. Now days the ten year old in the family can usually run the family computer better then the parents can. This is because schools are starting to mandate a computer class as a special course in elementary school. The children love it, and it gives them a great base to build on when the go to high school, and beyond. The number one reason for the computer boom was the invention of the internet. The internet makes it possible for people all over the world to exchange thoughts and ideas. Teachers are now able to harness the powers of both computers and the internet. All around the world teachers are using computers to aid them in there teaching. The internet makes it possible for students to research any topic they can imagine by searching thousands of library data bases world wide without even leaving the classroom. In the future students may be able to log onto an electronic classroom where a teacher is teaching a subject thousands of miles away. This electronic classroom would link students from all around the world, using a program called video conferencing, so that they could explore the feelings, and opinions of other students there age from different parts of the world.

Barriers to communication Essay

Some communication barriers happen when the person doesn’t know if someone is deaf, blind etc. So this may make things a lot difficult as the person trying to understand the message being sent may think they are ignoring them or just trying to use signals to get them to understand that they may not be able to hear or see them. Communication between people is mainly about sharing new information to one another. For example someone may ask someone what number bus they might need to catch or if they can have a glass of water. Sometimes communication will be complex. A relative may want to know something about wanting to fund for care. Communication involving funding may involve complex communication. In a situation like this then it would be important to make sure that the relative understands the information that has been provided. Most care workers like to build a strong relationship with someone to get a better understanding of them which can provide emotional support. Most communication involves emotional issues being difficult or sensitive. There would be no advice or information that would be useful to a person if they are feeling overwhelmed by most people do like the comfort of other people at these emotional times. Difficult or sensitive situation is focused on the person’s emotional issues rather than giving them information on stuff they don’t feel like talking about. Sometimes by creating a caring relationship with someone then it is about being able to understand the person feelings that they may be experiencing at that moment in time. Sometimes being with a person who is often lonely, anxious or depressed can provide them with comfort. Sometimes using nonverbal communication about how you are feeling then it can be more effective than words being spoken. Most care workers like to create their own barriers as they feel stressed by listening to the emotional needs of the people that they work with. Mainly listening to other people’s emotional needs can be often frightening or depressing. Most carers will sometimes stop listening in order to not hear about their painful emotions. Tiredness and lack of time to avoid the emotional stress of others can create a barrier from providing a caring environment. Building an understanding of another person can be rather difficult if their personality or self-esteem is low and they need to create  a barrier. People who may be depressed or anxious can experience negative thoughts that can just come to them. By attempting these thoughts and feelings can make them try to find a way through a brick wall. It may make them feel like there is an emotional barrier stopping them from experiencing some positive emotions. Some people may have a preferred language that they like to use to communicate with others. This preferred language will sometimes be obvious to that person. Most people in different communities will use their own language. Some people will use jargon, dialect or slang to communicate effectively with the people of their own language. These sometimes can create barriers to an understanding. Sensory impairment means that people’s senses do not work effectively. Impairments can create the first kind of communication barrier when information isn’t fully or received or misunderstood. A disability is not the same as impairment. But some people experiencing the barriers may be different as they may have a communication disability by not being able to say what they want to say. For example, a deaf person will have no problem communicating to a person who is good at sign language as they will understand them. But the person may not be able to communicate with people who only use spoken English without the aid of an interpreter. Building an understanding of other people’s needs will take some time and effort. Making assumptions may cause people to misinterpret what another person might be trying to communicate. For example, people might believe that they don’t need to listen to what another person has to say because they might already know what their needs might be. Most care workers who might use the communication cycle are less likely to make assumptions as they will check that they understand. Assumptions can create barriers as people can stop listening and might stop checking that they understand other people’s communication. Many people make assumptions based on people who have a disability which can mean that they are damaged as a normal person. When disabled people are seen this way then they may get ignored. Some people who have communication difficulties are sometimes assumed to be mentally impaired. People who are older will sometimes be seen as demented or confused if they are not able to answer questions quickly, correctly or clearly. Many care workers do not bother to check their assumptions about  people, but those assumptions can be turned into prejudices. Prejudices can lead into discrimination against someone. When a person experience strong emotions or if their self-esteem gets threatened then that person may become aggressive and may use submissive communication so they will be creating their own barriers. Most barriers are associated with cultural variation culture which refers to the different customs and assumptions that many communities of people adopt. Different ethnic and religious groups may have different cultures, different ages, occupational and geographical groups which can also make different cultural assumptions. Using words and non-verbal communication can be interpreted differently depending on the context and the culture of the person using them. For example, the word ‘hot’ may have different meanings depending on the context in which the person is using it. Using formal context, ‘hot’ can also refer to someone having a high temperature. In other speech communities an object may be hot if it has been stolen or if it is desirable. Also a hot person might be very good at something, or maybe someone who has overcome a certain desire. Communication may be interpreted by a fixed cultural standpoint, where serious misunderstanding may occur. To make sense of spoken and non-verbal language then people need to understand the context of the person they are communicating with. An example of non-verbal cultural variation might be someone communicating by using hand gestures in which the palm is held up and facing forward. It is also important that people do not make assumptions about non-verbal messages as they should always be checked. Non-verbal messages can mean different things depending on the circumstance s if the people sending the messages. Also if someone cannot control or make decisions about their own life then they may fail to develop or they might lose their sense of wellbeing. If care workers control someone then their self-esteem may get damaged. Care workers should seek to empower people who also use that service. Empowerment means giving power to other people. Also people who may use that service should be empowered to believe that they are allowed to make their own choices and to make sure they take control of their own life. Many people have different belief systems about what is important in their life and how people should live their lives. The values and principles that we think as being important or valuable, show’s how we live our lives. When people have different belief systems and values then  it may be easy for them to misinterpret someone else’s intentions when attempting to communicate. Many assumptions, belief systems and values can therefore create barriers for an understanding. Also it is important that people try to learn about other people’s beliefs and values in order to make an understanding of what they are trying to communicate. The use and abuse of power requires that all workers respect one another and support the people who use the same services and to be able to control their own lives. However, there is always danger that if a care worker is short of time then they will seek to control the people they work with. Also it may be an abuse power if care workers deliberately control others. People who use alcohol and drugs can influence a person’s ability to send a clear verbal or non-verbal message. Drugs that affect the functioning of the central nervous system can then result in messages not being received or misunderstood and can also distort interpretations of the messages. Alcohol and drug abuse can therefore create all barriers to commu nication as it can cause people to become frustrated or aggressive when trying to communicate.