Appraise the proposition that the bank failures and crisis of 2007-8 Essay

Appraise the proposition that the bank failures and crisis of 2007-8 could have been foreseen from academic work published prior to 2004 - Essay Example In the United States, the Federal Government was left with no option but to initiate a bailout program to secure the financial markets and control the crisis before it spread to other parts of the world. Over a period of time the crisis became a global financial crisis and many banking institutions around the world felt the shock. As the financial system faced rapid deterioration, many causing factors came to surface. There are many factors which have been pointed out as those which contributed to the banking crisis. This paper aims to analyze the literature which was developed prior to 2004 which contained information which could have been used to avoid the current bank failures and crisis which have reshaped the economy of the world. This paper will look at some of the root causes of the banking crisis and the ways in which it could have been avoided, while looking at the literature which was available prior to 2004 which could have been used to predict the crisis. A report by the Inter American Development Bank (2004) states that in order to avoid costly banking crisis it is essential to understand what causes them in the first place. One of the prime reasons for the banking crisis was the deregulation. In the past there have been incidents where deregulation of a particular industry showed similar trends. One such example is the airline industry which did well initially following the deregulation but eventually some of the airline service providers were forced to face bankruptcy. This is one example which could have been used to determine what the outcome of unmonitored banking and mortgage lending practices could have resulted in. Secondly banks did not consider the integrity of the borrowers when lending them huge amounts of money. Even individuals who were not fit to obtain loans were approved large sums of money. A) The US boom

Theology essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Theology - Essay Example Sigmund Freud’s discourse traces a connection between civilization and religion as an illusion. As such, at the beginning of the book he raised a critique on civilization by claiming that civilization does not intend to effect the just distribution of wealth extracted from nature but that it intends to perpetuate the current distribution of wealth and the status of human interrelationship (Freud, 1989:4-5). In this context, Freud raises the concept that although civilization is plagued with problems because it seeks to curtail the satisfaction of human instinct, it is useful for humanity to create a communal relationship because it lessens the uncertainty, cruelty and control of Nature and Fate over human life. As such, it can be impugned that human civilization is a tool whose â€Å"principal task †¦, its actual raison dà ªtre, is to defend us against nature† (Freud, 1989:14). In this framework, the humanization of nature and fate is undertaken and is deemed inst rumental in removing the people’s fear of nature and rob nature of its capacity to destroy and annihilate humanity. Thus, this process pave for the reenactment of one’s self as â€Å"a small child, in relation to ones parents. One had reason to fear them, and especially ones father; and yet one was sure of his protection against the dangers one knew† (Freud, 1989:16). Within this paradigm, man utilizes the gods with a threefold tasks: â€Å"they must exorcize the terrors of nature, they must reconcile men to the cruelly of Fate, particularly as it is shown in death, and they must compensate them for the sufferings and privations which a civilized life in common has imposed on them†(Freud, 1989:17). Being such, man’s continued helplessness is assuaged by the protection given to them by the gods. Moreover, since the medieval period, man’s relation with the gods has been transformed in the reenactment of the loving relationship between the son and the father.

Motivation and Behavior Essay Example for Free

Motivation and Behavior Essay Motivation refers to the process that drives an organism to behave the way it does. Simply put motivation causes an organism to eat, sleep, and drink and individuals to participate in the activities they find satisfying. Motivation can separate people into two categories optimist and pessimist. Optimists are those looking for the good in situations and pessimists finding the bad. Motivational sources can be described as extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic is the motivation that comes from outside of the individual. Intrinsic is the motivation of an individual that comes from within. Motivation affects an organism’s behavior. Dr. Whitbourne describes six theories in here article from psychology today; instinct, drive reduction, arousal, incentive, cognitive and self-determination. Motivation As defined by psychology.about.com, motivation is defined as the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. Motivation is the psychological process that tells humans what to do. A motivation causes humans and other species to drink, eat, play, sleep and reproduce. Without motivation there would be no reason for accomplishing anything. Within the motivation process there are different factors with each individual. Motivation can come in the form of positive motivation and negative motivation. These motivating factors eventually lead to an emotional state within the individual. Generally motivation creates to type of individuals that society recognizes and relates with; optimist and pessimist. Optimistic is disposed to take a favorable view of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome, (â€Å"Optimistic,†2012). These are the individuals who tend to have a positive outlook on life. In most cases these individuals are look for the good in every situation. From dictionary.com, pessimistic is pertaining to or characterized as the tendency to expect the worst and see the worst in all things. Pessimists are those individuals who see the worst in everything. Sources of Motivation Extrinsic/Intrinsic Extrinsic is defined by dictionary.com as, not essential or inherent; being outside a thing; outward or external; operating or coming from without, (Extrinsic, 2012). Extrinsic motivation is simply that, things that motivate from the external. When looking at individuals who have extrinsic motivation, they tend to not enjoy certain activities, (Huitt, 2011). They tend to be a reward based group and need affirmation from an outside source. Throughout society many people can be found to fit this category of motivation. As shown a person who only writes poems to be submitted to poetry contests as well as a person who does not like sales but accepts a sales position for the amount of money he/she will make, (Psychology, n.d.). Intrinsic is defined by dictionary.com as, belonging to a thing by its very nature; of or relating to the essential nature of a thing; inherent, (Intrinsic, 2012). If extrinsic is from the external, the intrinsic is from within the individual. These individuals to things because it please them and they find the activity enjoyable, (Psychology, n.d.). These people are not concerned as much with what the outside world or society thinks. They are motivated from within. An example shows, playing chess because the individual enjoys effortful thinking, and a person reading a non-fiction book because they are curious about the topic, (Psychology, n.d.). Motivation and Behavior From an article written by Susan Drauss Whitbourne, Ph.D. motivation as the cause of behavior is examined. In her article Dr. Whitbourne discuss insights to explain the complexity of behavior. The instinct theory as Dr. Whitbourne refers to it as the biological set instincts that organisms have, (â€Å"Motivation: the whys of behavior,† 2011). These factors are what tell organisms to do in order to survive, such as the lion hunting the antelope or a flock of geese migrating south for the winter. The second she describes is the drive reduction theory, (â€Å"Motivation: the whys of behavior,† 2011). This theory talks about organisms and how they will try to just ensure that their needs are met and not look for anything else, (â€Å"Motivation: the whys of behavior,† 2011). The article goes on to discuss how critics argue that if this theory were true no one would do thinks that were considered risky, (â€Å"Motivation: the whys of behavior,† 2011). Third Dr. Whitbourne discusses the arousal theory, (â€Å"Motivation: the whys of behavior,† 2011). Arousal theory is the opposite of drive reduction, (â€Å"Motivation: the whys of behavior,† 2011). Arousal theory is the motivation which drives individuals to increase their stimulation and seek out things that are exciting and outside just what the individual needs, (â€Å"Motivation: the whys of behavior,† 2011). Dr. Whitbourne goes on to discuss 3 more theories such as the incentive theory, cognitive theory, and the self-determination theory, (â€Å"Motivation: the whys of behavior,† 2011).. Summary Motivation is the process that drives individuals to behave the way they do. Individuals are categorized into two, optimist and pessimist. There are multiple sources of motivations that can be describe as either extrinsic or intrinsic. Whatever the source, individuals are either motivated from within or the world around them. In an article written by Dr. Whitbourne, six theories are described which examine the â€Å"why of behavior.† References Extrinsic. (2012). In Dictionary.com Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/intrinsic Huitt, W. (2011). Motivation to learn: An overview.Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/motivation/motivate.html Intrinsic. (2012). In Dictionary.com. Retrived from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/intrinsic Motivation: the whys of behavior. (2011, October). Fullfillment at Any Age, (), Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201110/motivation-the-why-s-behavior Optimistic. (2012). In Dictionary.com. Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/optimistic Psychology and society. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.psychologyandsociety.com/motivation.html

Educations Impact on Social Class

Educations Impact on Social Class In the past centuries, education has been a field that often being related to various disciplines. This is probably because of its importance towards society thus making it an important area that a nation needs to addressed on occasionally. Having an education is important regardless of the types of education whether the education is formal, informal or non-formal. One of the functions of education mentioned by King (2004), education must incorporate human life concerning central as well as focusing morals. However, the result of education towards society varies. Therefore, various parties argue on the fairness of education system which should be more egalitarianism towards society. In this essay, I will describe and discuss views by various parties regarding this issue in order to decide for myself on my belief of the education roles towards a better egalitarian society. Education has been an issue which requires a lot of attention from many disciplines such as sociology, psychology and so on. Most of the disciplines are in argument of what is the best knowledge to be put under education. Furthermore, the role of education towards producing a better and more egalitarianism society has often being questioned due to many factors. As a result, many parties are very concern of the many aspects of education such as the school curriculum, the syllabus of the subjects and the teachers training. Firstly, an important view about this matter is that school works as an important educational institution with the aim of promoting egalitarianism. School must serve three functions which are assisting one to assimilate into the society, producing a just competition and lessen inequality and thirdly, developing various individuals potentials (Dewey, 1916 as cited in Strathdee, 2003). The second function of school as stated by Dewey is seen as a good account of how education can help promotes social equality in society. Based on this view, the schools system which consists of a standard curriculum formed by various agencies is a way of offering equal opportunities to societies. Besides, standard examinations work as a standardised way of evaluating students performance in school. For instance, the New Zealands National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA) are national qualifications for senior secondary school students. In a way, the national standards constituted by the aut horised party such as the Ministry of Education helps promote egalitarianism. Other point of view regarding this matter comes from a very famous sociologist, Durkheim who has a similar view with Strathdee. Durkheim, 1905 (as cited in Filloux, 2001) brings the notion of the underlying purpose of education through schools in order to build societies according to specific needs. An article written in 1905 on secondary education stated: Any school system is made up of two kinds of components. On the one hand, there are a whole series of fixed stable arrangements and established methods, in a word, institutions; but, at the same time, within the machine thus constituted, there are underlying ideas at work, urging it to change. Seen from the outside, secondary education appears to us as a series of establishments whose physical and moral organization is fixed; but, seen from another angle, that same organization harbours aspirations seeking fulfilment. Underlying this fixed, consolidated existence there is a life on the move which, though less visible, is by no means insignificant (Là ©volution et le rà ´le de lenseignement secondaire en France, in: Education et sociologie, 1905, p. 122). Furthermore, Durkheim sees school as the best place to seek for the importance of social relations involving the members of the society through knowledge acquiring. Durkheim (2001) also mentioned about teacher training that should contain psychological culture as well as gaining guides from the sociologists work in order for teachers to have a clearer picture of their role in the educational process. Teacher training is a part of educational system to standardise the teachers qualifications before going to school to teach. Therefore, teacher training is regarded as a form of equality towards developing a better educational system that society can get benefits from. Another view about this matter discussed the role of social capital in terms of benefiting the societies. According to Sandefur, Meier and Hernandez (1999), the quality of social capital and forms of social capital is an important aspect to be addressed on. This is right since they can affect the outcome of students performance in education thus affecting their future undertakings in the job market. Therefore, the quality of the relationship between teachers and their students is an important aspect to focus on. Not only the teacher can play this role but other school personnel can be parts of the social capital in the educational environment. The implementation of rules in order to discipline the students is one way to make sure every student is treated equally in the school settings. This is according to Durkheim (as cited in Filloux, 2001): Moral discipline is not only useful for moral life as such; its action extends beyond that. It plays a significant role in the shaping of character and of the personality in general. Indeed, what is most essential in character is the aptitude to exercise self-control, the faculty of restraint, or, as they say, inhibition that enables us to contain our passions and desires and to call them to order. () Discipline is useful, therefore, not only in the interest of society and as an indispensable means without which there would be no regular co-operation, but in the interest of the individual himself. Especially in democratic societies like ours children must be taught this healthy moderation. This is because the conventional barriers which forcibly curbed desires and ambitions in societies organized differently have partly fallen away and so only moral discipline is left to exercise this regulatory function (Là ©ducation morale, pp. 9-42) On the other hand, opposing view of the fairness of education towards society is raised by other academician. Curriculum does not only work to standardise the content of schools educational system but it sure has its hidden purposes. According to Vallance, 1991, p.40 (as cited in Carpenter, 2001), hidden curriculum is: †¦those practices and outcomes of schooling which, while not explicit in curriculum guides or school policy, nevertheless seem to be a regular and effective part of the school experience. (Vallance, 1991, p.40) Hence, schools hidden curriculum is perhaps considered as a form of unjust towards society. In some way, school educates students to face selected and specific positions in the workforce that might have no difference from their parents job. For instance, different expectation that a teacher has towards the students in the classroom might affect the students performance especially for those in a lower streamed class. So, students are preparing themselves for a work that will suit their qualification as well as preparing themselves for social positions alike their parents. Based on three initial views in this essay, the arguments seem to be more on supporting the education role in promoting social equality in society. Most of the views are showing the equal opportunities that educational settings have offered to societies in order for them to gain success regardless of the background of the learners. In my opinion, the educational system is giving its best to serve society by its occasional development so that the system can fit into different sorts of societies. Since equal chance has been offered, what is left is the effort that the society can demonstrate in order to grab the opportunities so that individual skills can be developed. To be successful and to gain a better social status in the society, one must grab all the opportunities that have been offered especially by the government who has been providing vast chances for the people to be learned society. Therefore, societies need to help themselves in order to achieve success and improve their w ay of living.

Analysis of Article about EnClean Case Essay examples -- Harvard Busin

This case analyzes situation described in the Harvard Business Review article about EnClean located at: http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=794115 1. Major issues facing EnClean. A. Stock price is down more than 85% from its high of $22. Company has been losing money since the first quarter of 1992. Financial fundamentals are sagging: Â · Gross margin is dropping; Â · SG&A are too high; Â · debt is huge; As a result, investors have lost confidence in the company. B. Managerial incompetence. COO has lost control over several major company’s SBUs. Since 1989 EnClean has been failing the task of properly integrating acquired companies. Business units such as CMC, AlphaChem, and Sizemore have resisted change and have never accepted the vision, the mission, and the common strategy of EnClean. C. Demoralized personnel. Because of the following problems EnClean is losing highly valuable sales and technical associates: Â · absence of clear goals; Â · lack of training; Â · confusing deliverables; Â · faulty employee recognition system; Â · blame culture, finger pointing; Â · conflict between corporate and divisional interests; D. Uncertain/declining economic conditions. Â · Economy has been in recession for several years; Â · Environmental cause has received a hard blow in 1992 when president Bush Sr. postponed or cancelled many environmental laws. As a result, companies began to postpone environment-related jobs. E. Facing heavier competition. Â · Environmental side of the EnClean’s business faces increased competition due to the business erosion. Competition lowers prices to secure the reduced amount of work. Â · Industrial side of the EnClean’s business faces equal competition. For instance, 1992 saw the emergence of two potent competitors: WMX Technologies and Rust International. F. Losing the focus on quality. Since 1988 EnClean had been basing its strategy on providing high quality service (as opposed to low-cost). Quality improvement and control processes had been developed and successfully maintained. However, by 1992, as a result of rapid expansion, many divisions were executing quality procedures as a formality, just to satisfy the corporate group. Thus, EnClean is undermining its core competency – hig... ...ompany. o Create a learning network to share company’s best practices throughout the organization. o Start building a management development facility to teach and preach company values to managers of various divisions. o Identify and start to fold down businesses that are outside of the company’s core competency. Long Term Action Items o Free up capital by divesting from the business units that are unprofitable or are outside of the company’s core competency. o Use that capital to improve financial fundamentals, especially debt-to-equity ratio. o Put all company’s managers through the leadership development program. o Put in place semi-annual management evaluation survey. All managers must be regularly evaluated on their effectiveness, creativeness, and, most important, whether they are compatible with company’s values, mission, and vision. o Grow EnClean into the strongly centralized company, where planning, even if done on an individual division basis, is then linked back to the overall strategy of the company. Works Cited http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=794115

Comparing Journeys in Thos Pynchons The Crying of Lot 49 :: Comparison Compare Contrast Essays

Parallel Journeys in The Crying of Lot 49 The Crying of Lot 49 offers two journeys into the text: that of it's protagonist Oedipa, and that which the reader is forced to take with her. His brilliant use of detail and word plays blur the lines between the two. The main factor in this journey is chaos, here referred to by its’ more scientific name entropy. Oedipa and the reader get lost in a system of chaos and the task of deciphering the clues within the intricate system. The reader has no choice but to become part of this system through cleverly employed tactics Pychon uses to draw one in.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The uncertainty and complication of the mystery are the devices typically used to bring a character and or reader to an understanding of oneself, in this case it is questionable whether Oedipa or the reader reach this sort of consciousness. Oedipa through Pynchon's scientific/literary metaphors, has a personal awakening that is not quite resolved with the end of the novel. The reader and the protagonist are both left to question what is real and what is fantasy. Pynchon offers clues to the puzzle, but the truth in question is not the Trystero, but Oedipa's sanity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Oedipa Mass is forced to involve herself in what seems to be a conspiracy. Her job can be compared to that of Maxwell's Demon. "As the Demon sat and sorted his molecules into hot and cold, the system was said to lose entropy. But somehow the loss was offset by the information the Demon gained about what molecules were where ¨ (p.105). Perception is blurred in the novel through the use of alcohol and drugs and the blurring of communication systems. In this case a form of entropy linked to the chaos of a communication system is embodied by the W.A.S.T.E. system Oedipa stumbles upon. She must attempt to separate what is real and what is fantasy, to decipher what is important and what is useless information. Pynchon's use of detail makes this a difficult task, and the reader is caught up in her world of symbols and imagery. His mixture of fiction with history further confuses the reader with the Thurn and Taxis system and the Peter Pigui d Society one is drawn into a world where he/she is reliant upon Oedipa to decipher the clues.   Oedipa and the reader are drawn into a constant fear of paranoia.

Change Management Essay

1. Change management is a necessary component for any organizational performance improvement process to succeed. Critically review the contribution of J.P, Kotter to management of change. Introduction to change management Contemporary trends of business and management are dynamic in nature. This is the reason why different organization employ strategic change in order comes up with current business demands. However, it is always difficult for the employers to accept this change effectively and there are several reasons behind it. For instance, some employers feel uncomfortable to manage with the change and some employers consider it a threat to their expertise and job. This situation makes it difficult for the organizations to perform core business activities that ultimately affect the profitability and working processes of that organization in one way or other. Change management is an important factor since it enables the organization to comply with the contemporary market trends. However, there has been a lot of research on this topic due to the intricacy cling to it. It is convicted that change is managed on organizational level rather than individual level yet without psycho-analysis and behavioral analysis and without compelling and convincing human resource of the organization, it is not possible to gain benefits from implemented strategic change. So, one of the major component for change management is human resource management. When an organization employs some strategic change, it has to face resistance from employers because it involves transition from known to unknown. Some individuals try to maintain this change and find it comfortable yet others are usually unwilling to adopt this change which causes failure of strategic change plan. Most often, it happens in enterprise resource planning programs because it involve different complex processes which enable some people to move on comprehending the organizational state while some of them has to experience different transition processes. This is the reason why a lot of large scale ERP confronts failure due to resistance of employers. Importance of change management: Leading organizations like Nestle and Adidas usually form balancing relation between their organization and human resource through contemplating their needs. Since the organization is consisted of different people, personal change should also be considered an important factor. A change strategy involves infrastructural change in an organization and in order to adopt this change successfully, people of that organization has to change themselves. It has been observed in majority of the organizations that they handle the organizational change from technical perspective without contemplating the human resource which ultimately causes failure to achieve successful change management. Hence, the organizational management should keep the effects of change on individuals while implementing change strategy and for this purpose, different tools like one promulgated by J.P Kotter (1996) in the form of his 8 step change model. Effect of organizational change: In order to scrutinize the effect of organizational change and its proper management, a study has been conducted by Bovey and Hede (2001) in which nine organizations participated including federal government corporation, state governmental departments, large private sectors and local government agencies. The change was realignment and restructure of the divisions and departments introducing novel technologies. The result indicated that approximately 32.2% respondents were facing a great effect of this change where as 37.3% demonstrated that they were affected by this change to a large extent. hence, most of the respondents had been confronting and experiencing remarkable change in organizational infrastructure. Techniques to adopt change management Different researchers have identified a lot of techniques for making change lucrative through change management on organizational as well as individual level. (Aladwani, 2001) These techniques involve: †¢Communication in order to affect cognitive conduct †¢Communicate in order to give brief about strategic change †¢Train and educate the employers to deal with the change effectively For making change management effective, Kotter’s (1996) 8 step change model can also be used. The steps involved in this model are: †¢Creating urgency †¢Powerful Coalition formulation †¢Creation of changing vision †¢Communication †¢Removal of obstacles †¢Creating short term wins †¢Building strategic change objective †¢Amalgamating changes in organizational corporate culture Conclusion: To conclude, it can be stated that for the success of an organization, change management plays a major role and among all basic components, human resources is the major aspect that should be given proper attention. No organization can achieve success unless its people are capable of dealing with strategic change and for this purpose, organization management can implement different techniques and contribution of Kotter (1996) cannot be neglected in promulgating change management techniques through his 8 step change model. References: Aladwani, A. M. (2001) â€Å"Change management strategies for successful ERP implementation†. Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 7 No. 3. pp. 266-275. Bovey, W. H., Hede, A. (2001) â€Å"Resistance to organizational change: the role of defence mechanisms†. Journal of Managerial Psychology. Vol. 16 No. 7. Kotter, J. P. (1996) Leading Change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School.