Dozier: Foreign Exchange Market and Forward Contract

Dozier Industries has three options to choose from when deciding on the best way to handle their first non-US dollar denominated receivable: 1. Entering into a forward contract in which Dozier would sell forward British Pounds. 2. Execute a spot market transaction to create a synthetic forward hedge. 3. Do not hedge against any fluctuations between the Pound and the Dollar. For the purpose of the analysis, there are several assumptions made which are pertinent to the analysis that follows (see appendix). Forward Contract Hedge The first option available to Dozier Management to hedge the risk of the Great British Pound (GBP) depreciating against the United States Dollar (USD) is to enter into a contract to sell forward ? 1,057,500 for USD in 90 days. Therefore, on April 14th, when Dozier receives the remaining GBP from the security system contract, it would be required to deliver these GBP to the counterparty of the forward contract. This option would make the firm immune to any fluctuations in the value of GBP relative to USD over the next 90 days as the firm would lock in the USD/GBP exchange rate for their receivable of ? ,057,500. At the current 3-month forward rates of (1. 4198 USD/GBP), Dozier would capture guaranteed proceeds of $1,501,438. 50. Dozier also received ? 117,500 as deposit for the contract. The firm could sell this deposit on the spot foreign exchange market at the current rate of 1. 437 USD/GBP and receive $168,847. 50. Investing the proceeds of the deposit in a U. S. money market accou nt would yield $171,988. 00 in 90 days. It is important to note that since the contract was settled on December 3rd, the GBP depreciated by over 3% (from (1. 820 to 1. 437 USD/GBP). As a result of this movement, the USD value of the deposit was reduced by the same 3% from $174,135. 00 to $168,847. 50. Under the strategy of using the forward contract hedge, the firm would be assured of receiving a total of $1,673,426. 50 ($1,501,438. 50 plus $171,988. 00). Given the total cost of the project of $1,642,783, the firm would realize a profit of $30,643. 50, a margin of 1. 87%. This profit margin would be significantly below the projected 6% return. Spot Market Hedge An alternative to the forward contract hedge is Dozier could create a matching liability for the GBP receivable by borrowing GBP from the bank, immediately exchanging the GBP for USD in the spot foreign exchange market and then investing the USD proceeds in a three month deposit. At the time the receivable comes due, Dozier would use the GBP proceeds to repay the liability and keep the USD amount of the three month profit. These series of transactions would eliminate the risk of the depreciation of the Pound. GBP funding is available at a rate of 15% (13. 50% GBP prime rate plus 150 basis point credit spread). To create a GBP liability of ? 1,057,500 GBP in 90 days, the firm would need to borrow its present value of ? 1,021,188. 50. The firm would then receive $1,467,447. 88 at the current exchange rate. As the USD investment would be over $1. 0 million it would be classified as a large deposit and qualify for the premium interest rate. As in the previous scenario, Dozier would immediately exchange the ? 117,500 deposit into $168,847. 50. The total proceeds of $1,636,295. 38 could then be invested in a deposit bearing 8%, earning interest of $31,787. 57 over 90 days. The firm would receive a total of $1,668,082. 4 from the initial deposit, the principle and interest in the three month investment. Given the project costs stated above, the firm would realize a profit of $25,299. 94, representing a margin of 1. 54%. Spot Market Hedge The final option available to Dozier Management is to leave the 1,057,500 GBP receivable un-hedged. If the GBP were to appreciate against the USD over the next 9 0 days, Dozier would reap the full benefit of this appreciation. Conversely, should the GBP depreciate versus the USD over the next 90 days, Dozier would suffer a loss equal to the percent depreciation of the pound to the dollar. In a scenario where the USD/GDP exchange rate moves by  ±10%, the Dozier’s profits would range between negative $96,471. 13 (or 5. 9% of cost, making the project a loss) and $207,819. 16 (or 12. 65% of cost, effectively doubling the profit margin). Conclusion Dozier can capture a profit through both of the hedging strategies albeit it being smaller than the target six percent originally built into the bid. An un-hedged position is unacceptable due to the firm’s recent financial difficulties – it is critical that Dozier profits from this initial venture into this new market. While leaving the receivable un-hedged alternative does offer the greatest potential profit at the current prevailing FX rates, these profits are not guaranteed (see appendix for profit/loss possibilities given GBP/USD FX fluctuations). Given the importance of locking in a profit and the uncertainty of the GBP/USD future exchange rates, we recommend Dozier hedges the ? 1,057,500 receivable by exchange rate in Appendix Assumptions: †¢All transactions are executed immediately. †¢All transaction costs surrounding the forward contract are negligible. †¢All rates given in Exhibit 4 will not fluctuate over the 90 day time span. Deposits over $1 million are eligible for the three month deposit rate. Calculation of Profits: Spot Market Hedge Deposit Amount $ 168,847. 50 Interest Received $ 28,507. 45 Principal Amount $ 1,467,447. 88 Total $ 1,664,802. 82 Cost of Project $ 1,642,783. 00 Interest on Initial Deposit $ 3,280. 12 Net Profit on Project $ 25,299. 95 Profit Margin on Project1. 54% Currency Forward Hedge Receivable GBP $ 1,057,500. 00 Short GBP $ (1,057,500. 00) Long USD @ 3 month Fwd $ 1,501,438. 50 Deposit $ 168,847. 50 Cost of Project $ 1,642,783. 00 Interest on Initial Deposit $ 3,140. 50 Net Profit on Project $ 30,643. 50 Profit Margin on Project1. 87% Profit Margin Scenario Analysis FX Rates% ChgUSD EquivalentCost of ProjectDepositProfit/LossProfit Margin 1. 30 -10. 0% $ 1,374,323. 87 $ 1,642,783. 00 $171,988. 00 $ (96,471. 13)-5. 87% 1. 31 -9. 0% $ 1,388,205. 93 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 00 $ (82,589. 07)-5. 03% 1. 33 -8. 0% $ 1,402,228. 21 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 00 $ (68,566. 79)-4. 17% 1. 34 -7. 0% $ 1,416,392. 13 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 0 $ (54,402. 87)-3. 31% 1. 35 -6. 0% $ 1,430,699. 13 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 00 $ (40,095. 88)-2. 44% 1. 37 -5. 0% $ 1,445,150. 63 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 00 $ (25,644. 37)-1. 56% 1. 38 -4. 0% $ 1,459,748. 11 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 00 $ (11,046. 89)-0. 67% 1. 39 -3. 0% $ 1,474,493. 04 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 00 $ 3,698. 04 0. 23% 1. 41 -2. 0% $ 1,489,386. 91 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 00 $ 18,591. 91 1. 13% 1. 42 -1. 0% $ 1,504,431. 23 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 00 $ 33 ,636. 2 2. 05% 1. 44 0. 0% $ 1,519,627. 50 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 00 $ 48,832. 50 2. 97% 1. 45 1. 0% $ 1,534,823. 78 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 00 $ 64,028. 77 3. 90% 1. 47 2. 0% $ 1,550,172. 01 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 00 $ 79,377. 01 4. 83% 1. 48 3. 0% $ 1,565,673. 73 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 00 $ 94,878. 73 5. 78% 1. 50 4. 0% $ 1,581,330. 47 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 00 $ 110,535. 47 6. 73% 1. 51 5. 0% $ 1,597,143. 77 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 00 $ 126,348. 77 7. 69% 1. 3 6. 0% $ 1,613,115. 21 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 00 $ 142,320. 21 8. 66% 1. 54 7. 0% $ 1,629,246. 36 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 00 $ 158,451. 36 9. 65% 1. 56 8. 0% $ 1,645,538. 83 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 00 $ 174,743. 83 10. 64% 1. 57 9. 0% $ 1,661,994. 22 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 00 $ 191,199. 22 11. 64% 1. 59 10. 0% $ 1,678,614. 16 $ 1,642,783. 00 $ 171,988. 00 $ 207,819. 16 12. 65% Notes: *All numbers rounded to the nearest one-hundredth decimal place. *No probability weighting given to each sc enario.

Emphasise the tragedy in Death of a Salesman Essay

A symbol is defined as ‘an object or action that represents an idea, function or process,’ essentially anything which ‘stands for’ something else. When viewed in relation to the Aristotelian model of tragedy in Poetics, Miller’s rich use of symbolism in Death of a Salesman contradicts a key premise within Aristotle’s tragedian theory, labelling the tragic hero’s hamartia as the cause for their downfall. Miller uses symbols to explore the motifs of success, freedom and failure, as well as to help shape our view of his characters. Throughout the play Miller emphasises the strength of these symbols through the way they affect the Loman family and in particular Willy, whose obsession with the American Dream – and all that it encompasses – brings him to his tragic end. We may consider Willy to posses the tragic flaw of hubris, which will only assist the interplay of the material and figurative symbols Miller creates to entrap Willy within his beliefs, leaving him unable to escape. Inherent throughout the play is Miller’s heavy use of symbols to convey meanings such as hope, struggle and self-worth. Significantly, symbolism assists the tragic imagery as a crucial element of Miller’s stagecraft. Miller elaborately constructs the perfect conditions for Willy’s downfall in several key ways including his use of music, the motif of dreams and symbolic props. His first method is the recurring element of music applied through his stage directions. The melancholy ‘melody heard, played upon the flute’ starting from Act 1 resonates with the atmosphere and is Miller’s structuralism technique of oscillating to and from Willy’s reflection of the past. The natural element of this symbol alludes to his father’s influence as a flute-maker, and its use during Willy’s introspection could suggest an alternate, more successful life pursuing in craftsmanship instead of being a salesman under the impression of becoming ‘well-liked. ’ It acts as the transition between imagination and reality, setting the scene as we witness the bold symbol of Willy’s unfortunate circumstance. Furthermore, the flute symbolises Willy’s faint connection with the natural world, clearly illustrated by the stage directions as he enters Scene 1: ‘The flute plays on. He hears but is not aware of it’ By not being ‘aware,’ one may consider this ‘melody’ to be a calling which Willy attempts to mentally suppress. Additionally, Miller introduces his tragic hero with an afflicted perception the moment he is presented to the audience. Structurally, Miller develops this further as Willy gives us an account of his journey home, stating ‘I almost forgot I was driving. ’ This disregard for his surroundings and safety illustrates just how easily his physical and mental stability can be compromised. Alternatively, one may associate Willy’s captivation by the ‘thick’ trees and ‘warm’ sun with the almost hallucinogenic connotations of nature, or what he may be describing as ‘such strange thoughts’, with the road possibly symbolise Willy’s suspension between responsibilities and his sense of nirvana, a road he confronts ‘every week of my life. ’ The use of nature is significant to the settings created by Miller. As the curtain rises and reveals the Loman house, he ensures that ‘We are aware of towering, angular shapes behind it, surrounding it on all sides. ’ The way they enclose the setting directs our attention to the ‘fragile-seeming’ house and emphasises Willy as the ‘Low-man’ intended by his name. One may interpret this as a pathetic fallacy, alluding to their sense of isolation and vulnerability, the former of which being a traditional trait of the tragic hero. However, the way Miller isolates the entire Loman family reflects the way the American dream was an influence to many people’s lives and is not merely a unique flaw in Willy. The setting created by Miller corresponds with Aristotle’s unity of place, stating that ‘a play should cover a single physical space and should not attempt to compress geography. ’ This appropriately fits within the Aristotelian model as it focuses less on the power of external conflicts, but rather the intrinsic and non-progressive world view Willy is unable to escape from. This peripheral is sharply contrasted by Miller’s references to the ‘jungle’ through Ben, who despite being dead before the play begins, remains a big influence to Willy and his search for capitalism. The jungle’s symbolic connotations of ‘wild freedom’ and ‘liberty’ epitomises all that opposes the American dream. One could also argue that they represent the opportunities Willy rejected due to his hubris, his uncompromising faith in the American dream. Rollyson explores this idea and states ‘Willy is only as solid as the society in which he tries to sell himself,’ and everything from his view of America as ‘the greatest country in the world’ to his idolisation of ‘David Singleman’ suggests that the American dream is something he is deeply ‘sold’ into. Through Miller’s use of a non-linear narrative, the audience gains a greater understanding of the way symbols are established and the development of the setting in which they manifest. Willy’s recollection of the past makes us aware that the apartment buildings replaced their natural surroundings, most notably the ‘two beautiful elm trees,’ the presences of which echo through the repeated appearance of leaves around their home. The construction of the apartment buildings has rendered their neighbourhood lifeless, and Willy’s statement ‘The grass don’t grow any more’ may reflect on the state of poverty throughout the United States, induced by the Wall Street crash. He adds that ‘they massacred the neighbourhood,’ with the lexical choice ‘massacred’ highlighting the ruthlessness of the industrialisation which compromised their way of life. The ambiguity of ‘they’ may echo Willy’s lack of perception over who is truly responsible for the desolate state of their economy, represented by both Willy’s failure as a salesman and their home environment, isolated, unable to flourish. At this point, the audience should understand the power of these symbols, which are shown to have direct influence over Willy’s life by compromising his mental stability. Willy’s ‘two large sample cases’ symbolise his wasted efforts attempting to fulfil the role of a successful provider. Their physical weight acts as a pathetic fallacy to represent Willy’s emotional heaviness and an appeal to the audience’s sympathy. Linda’s first words express her anxiety of him potentially smashing the car, symbolising mobility. The irony is that no matter how far he drives to work, he doesn’t seem to get anywhere or achieve anything beyond his mundane routine. Miller immediately contrasts this real symbol in their present timeframe with a mentally-constructed symbol from Willy’s past, exposed to us through Willy’s inner thoughts: ‘That funny? I coulda sworn I was driving that Chevvy today. ’ This juxtaposition of past and present tenses helps create the feeling of disorientation which we would expect Willy to experience. The Chevrolet symbolises status and success, even described by Willy as ‘the greatest car ever built’ only for him to later contradict himself by asserting that ‘they ought to prohibit the manufacture of that car! ’ We may identify Willy’s tragic flaw as his willingness to base his very existence on material goods. Miller’s extensive use of such symbols reflects the obsessive nature of Willy and this effective literary technique acts as a vehicle to draw our attention to the flawed society of 20th-century America, totally preoccupied with the relentless pursuit of the tragic American dream. It is at the end of Act 2 when we discover that the car, a symbol of progression and modernity, becomes no more than an instrument for Willy’s suicidal downfall. Throughout Willy’s internal conflict, Linda remains a symbol of emotional security, whose unconditional love sees past his lack of success. Her pivotal speech ‘Willy Loman never made a lot of money†¦ So attention must be paid! ’ mirrors the Chorus of Greek tragedy, acting as an interlude during which the audience reflects on the progression of the play. Linguistically, her repetitive use of negatives ‘not’ and ’never’ emphasise his lack of achievement and simplicity as a character. She is heavily conscious of the tragic fate Willy is heading toward, and her devotion to him is shown as she mends her stockings. Structurally, this is placed immediately after Willy’s scene with The Women whom is treated with new stockings. Miller juxtaposes Willy’s infidelity with the shame he feels being unable to provide successfully – shown as he acts ‘angrily’ at the sight of them. The motifs of hope and dreams symbolise the search for the unobtainable, a fundamental flaw in Willy’s characterisation. With the working title The Inside of His Head, Miller originally intended to make the setting itself a physics manifestation of Willy’s internal mental state, with the stage layout resembling the shape of a head. One could argue that Miller’s use of ‘imaginary walls-lines’ – which characters walk through instead of the doors as to indicate a recollection of Willy’s past – would show a comprised mental structure within Willy’s psyche. Although these externalities largely influence Willy’s behaviour, we must also consider him as symbolic, as he represents the struggling everyman whose belief in the flawed American dream is slowly killing him. Miller’s use of symbols within Death of a Salesman allows us to witness exactly how Willy, a tragic character bounded by ‘his temper, massive dreams and little cruelties,’ becomes progressively more influenced by both his thoughts and surrounding environment. By stimulating our senses and heightening dramatic tension, it is a quintessential device used to enhance the audience’s understanding and sense of sympathy toward this tragic character so mentally distorted by this ideal, without which there would be no tragedy to interpret. As a play famously described as ‘a time bomb expertly placed under the edifice of Americanism,’ Miller makes a great effort to illustrate his beliefs of the American Dream as a corrupt ethos by showing its tragic effect on the common American man.

Midterm Learning Reflection Essay

Introduction. You should print this out, although you may also use it as a template to type over. You will be writing two reflections this term: a midterm reflection and a final reflection. The final reflection is the one you want to have ultimately on your portfolio. Both your midterm and final learning reflections must be 700 to 1000 words, which is approximately two to three MLA-formatted pages. You can check your word count by going to Tools/Word Count on the menu bar. Style and Format. The writing style of the learning reflection is primarily expressive, but will also contain narrative elements. You do not need a Works Cited page unless you cite something. So, if, for example, you cite song lyrics, one of our texts, a poem, or even a work of art, then you need a Works Cited page. I’ve included one here to serve you for formatting purposes. File formats. We are going to be learning how to convert Word documents to pdf format so that they load more easily in a browser window. If you can, please practice with one or both of the following two methods, which are what I use (they are free). 1. Install a free pdf converter. These are not truly â€Å"free† in that they either force you to look at some advertising or they add a line on each page advertising the manufacturer of the software. I don’t have a problem with either of these and gladly suffer through the free advertising every time I convert a file to pdf, which I do all the time. The one I use to create all the pdf files for my classes is at http://www.pdf995.com/download.html. Download both the Pdf995 Printer Driver and the Free Converter (they are both free; they are required to work together, but for some reason, they are two separate downloads). After you go through the download and installation process, every time you want to create a pdf file from Word, all you need to do is select File/Print and then chose PDF995, which will show up as a â€Å"printer.† When you initiate this process of creating a pdf file, you will be prompted for a place to save the file, as well as a file name. Be careful to save the file to your H: drive or, if to your C: drive, to ftp (transfer) it over to your H: drive later. You will notice that some advertisements come up as the conversion process occurs. That’s the â€Å"price† you pay for the free conversion software. 2. The other pdf-conversion method I like is to use the free OpenOffice word processing software. This software should be in our labs. You can also download it for free on your own computer, from http://www.openoffice.org/. This is basically an open-source version of Microsoft Office. Once you’ve installed it (it’s large and takes a while to install), you can open any Word document with the OpenOffice word processing program (Open Document). Some of the original Word formatting may be lost – especially the header information with your last name and page number. You will need to add that back in; be sure you do it correctly. When you’re satisfied with the format, there is a little pdf icon on the toolbar that you can click, and that will automatically convert the document to pdf format. Learning Reflection Content. What should you discuss in your reflection? In general, you discuss what you’ve learned, what you’ve done especially well, what you’ve enjoyed – and the challenges you’ve encountered and how you might make changes in the future. Here are some suggestions for what to write about: †¢ Your experience transitioning from high school (or wherever you were previously) to a freshman in college, focusing on how you have grown as an individual and an independent student. †¢ Your experience in this particular course – your year-long freshman inquiry. In this regard, you should probably focus on the University Studies goals and the ways in which you have grown and developed with respect to those goals. I would expect that other courses have also contributed to the goal areas, so you might want to highlight any that have been particularly useful in that regard. †¢ Other experiences as a student here at Portland State. Portland State University’s mission is â€Å"Let Knowledge Serve the City,† which reflects the fact that we are an urban university. What have you learned with respect to community, diversity, and the connection between a learning community (the university) and the city in which it is located? Keep in mind that you may have acquired valuable experiences outside of the classroom, but still connected to your identity as a student. o Perhaps you have learned important lessons about discipline and time management as a student athlete, which may serve you well when you enter the workforce. o Maybe your involvement in activities with other students – such as taking dance classes or playing in the band or spending hours in an art studio or toughing out chemistry and physics labs – has improved your personal skills and brought to light new areas of interest, which you’ve pursued in your free time. o Or perhaps you’ve found out that you are a loner, that you haven’t connected very well with a lot of the people in your classes. As you reflect on this (or any other conclusions that some – maybe you – might consider, well, depressing), think of this is an opportunity to think of ways to make some changes in the future. †¢ A reflection, in other words, should include a self-assessment element as well as thinking along the lines of â€Å"What could I do better or differently in the future?† Consider the challenges you’ve faced, how you’ve overcome them, or how you’d like to overcome them in the future. Conclusion. Your reflection should end in a way that gives the reader the sense that you are closing up a chapter in your life and ready to move on, with some ideas in mind of what you might do differently. My suggestion is that you do not spend a lot of time critiquing the world around you; after all, you can’t change that very much. Confine your reflection to you and what you have learned and experienced. Dwelling on what you don’t like about a given course or program is not a reflection about you, but about something else. Works Cited Eakin, Paul John. How Our Lives Become Stories: Making Selves. Ithaca and London: Cornell UP, 1999. Fiske, John. â€Å"Popular Culture.† Critical Terms for Literary Study. Ed. Frank Lentricchia and Thomas McLaughlin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995. 321 – 335. Harrison, Claire. â€Å"Hypertext Links: Whither Thou Goest, and Why.† First Monday. 7 Oct. 2002. 10 Feb. 2004 .

Negligent Tort Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Negligent Tort - Research Paper Example Elements of a negligent tort To file a successful case of unintentional tort, it is the duty of the plaintiff to prove that the defendant owed a duty of care towards the plaintiff. Duty of care refers to an individual’s obligation towards another individual to minimize and remove all foreseeable and avoidable risks (Miller, 2007, 95). A negligent tort case can be filed against a person if the individual is inattentive, fails to foresee an avoidable risk and, therefore, is unable to eliminate that risk. For example: if an individual holds a party on his property, it becomes his duty to inform the guests of all the negative and positive effects of attending the party and it is his duty to ensure that all the potential and avoidable risks are eliminated. The second element of unintentional tort is the breach of duty of care by the defendant, whether the defendant has breached his duty of care depends on the factual evidence of the case. In a tort case, the defendant is compared t o a reasonable person, if the defendant has not acted as a reasonable person should have, he is considered to be liable. The law helps the plaintiff in identifying whether the defendant has breached his duty. ... If harm has been caused, then it is obligatory for the defendant to compensate for the loss. The fourth element is the proximate and actual cause and effect relationship between the loss faced by plaintiff and the unintentional harm caused by the defendant. Actual cause and effect relationship refers to the fact that the harm was actually caused by the defendant to the plaintiff. For example: a huge number of accidents take place every day, sometimes those not involved in the accident become victims due to bad luck or negligent behavior by the victim, in such cases, the defendant cannot be held responsible in the case of negligent tort. Proximate cause refers to whether the defendant should be held responsible for negligent behavior according to fairness, practicality, rule and common sense. Remedies According to the law, there are different kinds of remedies when the plaintiff is successful in proving a negligent tort case. Remedies include; compensatory remedy, according to compens atory remedy, the plaintiff is to be compensated for both emotional as well as monetary losses (Walston-Dunham, 2012, p.227). Emotional losses include pain and hurt and monetary losses include loss of wages or property. Emotional damages fall under the category of General losses and monetary losses fall in the category of compensatory damages. The defendant may even have to pay for the replacement of loss in case of compensatory damage. These remedies are used both in intentional as well as unintentional torts. In severe cases and mostly in cases of intentional tort, the defendant may even face punitive damages; punitive damages may include punishing the individual who has been held accountable for

Organizational Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Organizational Behavior - Essay Example ple within the company as well as the company itself so that the end result is one on which everyone solemnly agree, that is to make the company thrive from a revenue-generating angle and image building aspect in the long run. The company that we are talking about in this paper does not have decentralization embedded deep into its roots and hence the employees are not able to make decisions on their own which is a setback in its due right. However, when we compare the same with the software giant Microsoft we come to know decentralization has been applied as a principle in this organization so that it could easily mold itself with the team management concepts that are so very prevalent there. This has thus provided a sense of autonomy to the company and more so its employees who now know how to manage their own selves in the best and the worst of times as well as the ways in which they can effectively contribute in their own capacity towards the betterment of the company and their own personalities too. Similarly, the organizational structure in place for Hewlett Packard (HP) is a decentralized one, much like that of Microsoft as it has involved stakeholders at all levels to come up with their own decisio ns, however some might be challenged every now and then, so that the company functions as a single unit and not a disjointed one. The informal structure of an organization lays the foundation for the formal hierarchy, as people are more easily able to relate to each other as well as to the company for which they are working day in day out. This informal structure builds a sense of trust and belonging within the people and they can easily contribute to the single basic benefit on which the company has housed its attention upon, either to earn benefits at an exorbitant rate or to satisfy the customers/consumers with no holds barred. The grapevine can really build the basis for the formal structure and becomes quite a factor in the final analysis. Similarly, when

Adapting to Health Changes Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Adapting to Health Changes - Assignment Example It also includes the topics related to elder abuse. Introduction The most difficult challenge a nurse could face is caring for an elderly ill client (Alexander, 2004, p. 1005). Due to developmental changes in physical and mental state, some of the clinical manifestations of certain diseases are hard to detect. One of these diseases is the diabetic ketoacidosis. Emergencies related to endocrine diseases account for approximately 1.5% of all hospital emergency admissions in England; the majority is related to diabetes and its complications (Dunning, 2005, p. 113). Mortality rates among elderly are 20% (Jevon, 2010, p. 9). Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a life-threatening diabetic condition caused by deficiency in insulin and results in severe hyperglycemia (Sinclair, 2009, p. 198). Diabetic ketoacidosis usually occurs in younger people with type 1 diabetes. Fortunately, older diabetics are less prone to DKA although a few cases exist (Roach, 2001, p. 324). Assessment Elderly people req uire individualized assessment ranging from simple screenings to in-depth evaluations. Health providers, particularly the nurses must be very knowledgeable and skillful in detecting deviation among elderly (Wold, 2004, p. 105). In the clinical scenario stated, the man is approximately in mid-sixties of age. The man is confused upon bringing him to the emergency department. He was not able to provide any information about himself or his condition so the staff called him Nic. He kept on insisting to leave the department and go home for dinner yet was unable to state his address. The hygiene was described as poor due to disheveled and unkempt condition. His appearance and odor suggested that he had not washed for some time and his breath had an acetone odor. The client frequently scratched his right upper arm and examination revealed that he had a hematoma (50 cents size) on the right side of his forehead and he repeatedly stated that he wanted to pass urine. Base on observation, the p atient has an indication of a fall due to hematoma; possible concussion due to confusion is exhibited. Nursing assessment undertaken are measuring of vital signs for blood pressure elevation and tachycardia, blood glucose level for determining hyperglycemia, neurological observations such as Glasgow coma scale to determine the client’s mental state, and mini-mental state examination (MMSE) for possible dementia (Melillo, 2011, p. 279). Plan of Care The plan of care for Nic depends upon the nursing diagnosis that has been found out and has been prioritized according to the assessment findings. The nursing diagnosis and each plan of care are elaborated below: Nursing Diagnosis #1: Risk for Injury related to unfamiliar environment and physical or mental limitations secondary to disease condition Assessment: The client is confused and unable to provide information of previous environment. He frequently scratched his right upper arm and has a fifty cents-size hematoma. Expected Ou tcome: The client will be free from further injury. Interventions and Rationales: 1. Orient the client to his environment. Orientation helps provide familiarity. 2. Instruct the client to wear slippers with nonskid soles and to avoid newly washed floors. These precautions can help prevent foot injuries and falls from slipping. 3. Teach him to keep the bed in the low position with side rails up at night. The low position makes it easier for the client to get in and out of the bed. 4. Make sure that personal belongings are within easy reach. Keeping objects at hand prevent falls from overreaching and overextending. 5. Instruct the client to request assistance whenever needed. Getting needed help with ambulation and

Paraphrasing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 19

Paraphrasing - Essay Example The plastics are bad for marine life and when other specie eat some of the marine life that ate this plastics, it would make them sick. The cycle begun until it reaches the higher up of the food chain which us and pay the price for polluting our oceans. 3. After reading the textbook, I chose the topic that compared the two religions which are Judaism and Christianity. Judaism and Christianity share the belief that there is God and have the same origin. In terms of teaching and practicing, they show different ways. To illustrate this I quote the sentence from textbook that would contrast from Christianity, Judaism is focused more on life and practice than on belief. In light of the environment worldview, environmental stewardship is a part of its ethics. In Judaism, the idea of the Sabbath introduces the necessary restraint into stewardship. Before reading the textbook about both of religious, I just thought that these two religious were different but realized through their origin and characteristic that they are based on one God and that the same God created all things. 4. I like the idea because it will lead to protect our environment. Companies should look for new ideas that may help our environment and not just think about profit because it is their responsibility too to protect the environment. I would love to hear in the next few days that some companies make a new ideas to protect our environment. Finally, I would like to say my thanks McDonalds 5. In the first video which is presented by EPS Group LLC, it gave me an idea on how to recycle Styrofoam. I know that Styrofoam was really light and disposable packages and the video showed interesting methods on how to recycle Styrofoam as well as the weight of the final stage. The weight of 21 kg shocked me but they provided good information that their machines has several settings depending on region and climate. Actually, I think Styrofoam is not good for the environment in

Don Quixote's madness Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Don Quixote's madness - Research Paper Example Unsuccessful in his first major quest, he set out on a second adventure with his servant Sancho Panza whom he pleaded with to accompany him on the journey as a squire. As a measure of compensation, Don Quixote promised to make Sancho the Governor of an Isle. Sancho, a farmer and a family man was chosen as the squire who will accompany him throughout his quest into claiming lands and portions for his self-glorification. They both rode on his horse across the cities of Spain in quest of glory and fame. In addition, there was a woman whom Don Quixote fell in love with and at every point he is in distress, he recognizes her as a point of strength and fortress. On his second mission, he encountered people that influence and shape his idea and disposition about life even when such disposition negates his belief and the reason for his conquest. He met a boy in the custody of an evil man and decided to leave him because he was assured of his safety. Sancho, being a loyal servant never for on ce departed from him even though he received the brunt for Don Quixote’s ill judgment. ... He refused to heed to the words of Sancho, rebuking him not to meddle with his quest saying he is not a knight and does not have the instinct of facing giants at war (Ludlum 146). Since he never wanted to hearken to the advice of Sancho, he advanced further at the mill with the mind of attacking the giants he saw instead of the windmills, as he charged further, there was a heavy wind that caused the sail in the windmill. When he saw this, then he believed the giants were trying to use magic that multiplied their hands. On sighting the multiple hands of his perceived giants, he sought for the support of his lover Dulcinea as a way of encouraging himself to fight his giants (Cervantes 65). This was common of Don Quixote throughout the novel as he frequently have his mind set on Dulcinea (Mancing 147), making the whole story seem as if he was on the quest to impress her rather than set himself as the greatest knight. He approached the windmill and launched his sword, but his sword and l ance were crushed by the windmill and fell to the ground. Sancho saw the bad state of his master and he quickly rushed to help him, instead of Don Quixote conceding to his mistake, he was bent on an enemy enchanter turning the giants into windmill. He was still under the influence of the stories of major knights he had read about, his ambition to surpass their achievements, and coupled with his desire of experiencing the love affairs those knights had in the books he read. Because of this, his quest for love became stronger and he would sacrifice himself for beauty that seems to put him in trouble. His nature of doing things got him into trouble with two monks he perceived as enemies capturing a princess. He engaged in a combat with one of the monk and threw him over

Sedimentary or metamorphic rocks and engineering issues Essay

Sedimentary or metamorphic rocks and engineering issues - Essay Example der, 2001).   Given the ability of engineers to measure all these, an emphasis on the latter is quite important in order to provide insight that would at least help in reducing earthquake intensities in the society. Particularly, the understanding of sedimentary rocks and their contribution to earthquakes intensities is necessary. To start with, earthquake shaking starts from the rupturing fault and then continues at other distances away from the fault. Earthquake shaking intensity is supposed to decrease as the distance from the rupturing fault decreases. However, it has been observed that shaking in one site is sometimes stronger than shaking in another site. Sometimes, this shaking can be ten times higher or stronger than shaking in another site (Ammon, 1997). Geologists have come up with information relating sedimentary rocks with earthquake shaking intensities. Geologists argue that shaking is always high in areas of softer rocks. In addition, shaking is amplified in areas of thicker sediments compared to areas of thin sediments. As it has been observed, the major reason why sedimentary rocks are associated with shaking intensities is because they are soft (Denecke & Series, 2003). An explanation of the relationship between sedimentary rocks and earthquakes shows that seismic waves’ speed is much higher in hard rocks when compared to sedimentary rocks. This is because the latter are soft as it has been explained earlier. In areas with different rock types, waves tend to pass through harder rocks to the softer rocks, they slow down. However, in order to carry the same energy carried in the hard rocks, they tend to get bigger than before. Therefore, shaking at sites that have soft rock layers is stronger since the seismic waves tend to move slowly as shown in Figure 1 and 2 (SCEC, 2014). The loss of life and properties associated with earthquake intensities can actually be controlled by avoiding buildings in area of soft sedimentary rocks. If this is not

Macromedia Dreamweaver Essay Example for Free

Macromedia Dreamweaver Essay The club will definitely need a web site which they can use to do a great number of things. Some of them are to attract customers and members, post up new events, provide customer support, make new members, submit it to search engines so more people can find out about it and so on. Cost is also a big factor to consider. Having a website is much cheaper than putting up an advert in a local or national publication. Some other advantages of having a website are reduced costs for printing and distributing services and sales information. Increase in customer base as new people learn about the club and its services. The hardware and software needed to make this site includes a web space on the net, a few good WYSIWYG editors for designing the pages like Microsoft FrontPage, Namo Web Editor or maybe Macromedia Dreamweaver and Fireworks depending on the clubs needs. Also you obviously need a computer with an internet connection to make, upload and view the site. The website will have different pages to the site like home, members, contact us, about, events, register and site map. Database: A database would be very useful for the club because currently they have a long list of members and their information and details all on paper. So a computerized way of storing, inputting, viewing and editing data would be extremely useful because it would increase the speed and efficiency at which the staff would view and input data. The database will store information including but not limited to: name, address, email, phone number and date of birth. The hardware which we will need is a computer for making the database and the program. The software which we will need to create the actual database file would be Microsoft Access or SQL Server, and the software which we will need to create the program which can access the database and provide methods for viewing and inputting data could be Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual C# or any other programming language. We could just create the database and the interface both in Access but a good programming language offers a lot more flexibility and functions. Forms: This can prove to be very useful for the club because currently the club has all of its forms on paper. So with computerized forms, when members want to book a plane for skydiving, or want to enroll for summer bungee jumping classes then the staff can just input the data needed in a Microsoft Word template and print it for the member. The hardware which we may need is a computer for printing and inputting data in forms, printer for printing out forms and receipts. The software which we will need is Microsoft Word with a customized template for each form so the staff can just open Word and load the template so all the fields required would already be there, they would just need to fill them in. Printer: The club will definitely need a good color printer to print out all sorts of things like forms, receipts, posters, banners, leaflets and pictures. The club right now doesnt have a computer or a printer so they cannot make any banners or posters to advertise their club or any new events or services. Also because they dont have a printer they cannot print out forms and receipts so they have to right down the information for a receipt and then give it to the member or the customer which is very time consuming and inefficient. The hardware which we will need is obviously a computer to connect the printer with and to send data to the printer so that it can print the desired information. E-commerce: An e-commerce system would also be useful for the club if they want to sell their own extreme sports gear like snowboards, goggles, etc. Or things like Proudlies Xtreme t-shirts and caps to promote their club and make it more popular. An online shopping system would enable them a place where members or customers could go, get and purchase sporting gear online. A link to the catalogue would be added to the main website. The online shop would also enable PXtreme to make a lot of extra money which they could use to improve their services. Programs we might need for this could be editors like Microsoft FrontPage or Namo Web Editor. The hardware needed would be a computer with an internet connection to make, upload and view the site. Camera: A camera should be necessary for this club because if the club has a camera then it could do many things like take pictures from events and post them on the site for other members to view. The club could take pictures of the summer programs in action. It could take pictures of the club itself so that people know what it looks like and they might come and enroll for membership or it could take pictures of the staff so that they can post it up on the site in staffing section. With a camera they would be able to upload the pictures onto a computer and then it will be a lot easier for them to make posters and banners because they would be able to insert the clubs pictures in them. The hardware needed would be a computer to upload the pictures on and then print them if needed, and the software required to upload photos will come with the camera. Staffing: The staff in PXtreme is made up of 5 people: the founder, the president, the vice president, secretary and the treasurer. This is the board of directors. These people will be running the club for the next 4 years and they have just been elected by the members of the club apart from the founder who will be looking after the club until he retires. The staff gets a very small salary and this isnt their full-time job, they have another job besides running the club. These people are running PXtreme just because they love sports. Each person is looked at in detail below. Founder: The founder of this club is Ozzy Kumar who has been with the club ever since it was made. Ozzy grew up in Yorkshire but moved to Hong Kong for financial reasons. He studied in Leeds University and finished his masters in computer science and graduated with first class honors. He doesnt do much except for making sure that his club is running fine without any problems and is making lots of profit. He is obsessed with extreme sports like snowboarding which is why he opened up this club. He isnt directly involved with anything going on in the club but he was the one who hired the four people below. President: The president of Proudlies Xtreme is Jenice Whitehouse. She grew up in London, driven by her love of history she went on to Bristol University to complete her BA. Jenice is the head of staff and she is the one who comes up with new events, services, makes sure that the staff is doing its job properly and makes sure that the club is running smoothly without any problems. She makes the big decisions for the club like when to buy new equipment and basically supervises everything which is going on. She knows every little nook and cranny of the club because she is always cruising around the club ensuring everythings working well. The IT needs which would be useful to her would be the website which she would use when she wants to update any events or news. Vice President: The vice president of PXtreme is Robin Hampshire who helps Jenice Whitehouse with everything. He grew up in Scotland and studied in De Montfort University Bedford when he gained a BSC in sport science and a PGCE in Physical Education. He helps to make decisions and also its his job to decide what sports the club should provide and when and where the classes and training programs should be. He is never to far from the action and is always involved with all the activities going on. The IT needs which would help him would also be a website and he would use it when he needs to upload information about events and programs. Secretary: The secretary of PXtreme is Ivy Alba who really loves extreme sports and her role in the club is to handle all the paperwork. She is Korean but has lived in Hong Kong. She studied in Newcastle for a BA in Sports Studies followed by time at the University of Exeter, St Lukes College where she gained her PGCE. She also has to keep track of all the members information and details. She is the one who signs up new members and she also handles any phone calls to the club. Ivy is very good at art so she has been assigned to make small posters and leaflets informing members of new events. The IT needs which she would find useful are the database, forms and the printer. She would use the database when she wants to add new members to it or edit member info, and she would use the forms to print and give to the members. Treasurer: The treasurer of PXtreme is Jack Frost who grew up in Japan and is a graduate of Leeds University. Jack only loves two things in life: business studies and extreme sports. He is in charge of all the finance, the funds, revenues and taxes. He decides the membership fees and the fees for specific training programs or summer classes. He sees how much money comes in per month and handles the money accordingly. He decides what equipment needs to be bought. The IT needs which he would find useful would be the e-commerce system. He will figure out the pricing and cost of each product and handle the purchasing process.

Changing Workplace And Workforce Expectations Business Essay

Changing Workplace And Workforce Expectations Business Essay The key objective of this literature review is to provide a general survey of relevant theories, academic approaches, available studies and analysis on forecasted shifts in science, technology, communications, geopolitics, and economics between today and 2030 and the impact these factors will have on corporate workforce, employment models and the role of a leader in organization and leadership competencies. The horizon line for strategic planning and forecasts in most cases typically ranges from three months to five years. Trying to imagine what the world of business will be like 20 years from now is a challenging and noble goal but a researcher is exposed to several risks. One of them is to be too futuristic and end up with a science fiction which would have a little correspondence to the objective reality. The importance of the literature search is to avoid this trap and ground the dissertation on realistic, reliable and reasonable facts and evidences. It will also support the designing of research methodology and developing relevant questionnaire for conducting interviews with IBM and non IBM top management and executives. The scope of literature research The business is entering a new era in history undergoing serious changes caused by globalization, economic rise of new regions, dramatic shifts in demographics, science, technology, communications and geopolitics. The research community and leading multinational companies have already embarked on a series of forward-looking discussions to consider the macro trends driving business change in the decades to come, and the implications that will result for business and leaders who will drive the future success. The forecasts and researches done in this area cover such topics as: changing world changing workplace and workforce expectations new employment models and employee engagement instruments that would help business navigate in the future potential leadership styles needed in an organization with new and emerging employment relationships roles and accountabilities a leader of the future will have and potential challenges the leader need to be prepared for The Changing World There are many factors in the environment that affect the organizations and the decisions of the leaders of each organization. Huczynski and Buchanan (2007) argue that the world out there influences the world in there (Figure 1). Internal organization structures, processes and behaviors Lead to External environment factor, trends and developments change in Figure 1 The external environment external environment organization link There are different environmental scanning techniques to analyze the changing external environment. To build the vision of the future and understand the big picture of the macro-environmental influences PESTLE analysis concept (Figure 2) will be used. A PESTLE analysis is often used as a generic orientation tool, finding out where an organization or product is in the context of what is happening outside that will at some point affect what is happening inside an organization (CIPD, 2010). Figure 1. PESTLE Analysis Political factors Most of the researchers agree that by 2025 there will be a global multi-polar system with rise of China, India and some others. Power will be more dispersed with the newer players bringing new rules of the game while risks will increase that the traditional Western alliances will weaken (Global Trends 2025: Transformed World, 2008). USA will remain the provider of global security (FreeWorldAcademy, 2005) but will have to share the power with other new players. Researches expect China becomes a democratic country in 2030 and gain more political power. Some experts also expect greater Asian regionalism by 2025, which may lead to establishment of new quasi-blocks: North America, Europe and East Asia and new wave of political and economical competition (Global Trends 2025: Transformed World, 2008). The potential for conflict and instability is expected to increase in Middle East and North Africa. At the same time McKinsey Global Institute predicts the acceleration of Africas growth where government actions will manage to end political conflicts and improve business climate (McKinsey Global Institute, 2010). Its also expected that global negotiations between regional blocks and national governments on major issues for the planet, such as biodiversity, natural resources, energy policy and trade regulation will increase and possible result in establishment of new alliances and communities. Driven by higher world population, competition for natural resources, pollution levels Green will become fundamental geo-political and business imperative for the planet. Economic factors GLOBALISATION By 2030 the world will become flatter with an expanded base of financial power where barriers to the flow of goods, capital or knowledge will be almost removed (A View of the World in 2030, ACCA, 2010) which will more regulation on a global level. Its also expected that the global power will shift to emerging markets. This statement confirms Goldman Sachs Group Inc. that the market value of emerging-market stocks may grow more to $80 trillion in two decades, overtaking developed nations, as China becomes the worlds largest stock market (Bloomberg, 2010). Multiple centers of economic power will be distributed around the globe and organizations/countries will need to be culturally adaptable to compete in global markets Figure 2. demonstrates forecasted transition of GDP by 2030. Figure 2. Transition of GDP 2030 (Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, 2010) The transfer of global wealth and economic power roughly from West to East, is the most discussable topic in most of the reports and forecasts. This shift can be explained by several reasons : increases in oil and commodity prices generated big profits for the Gulf states and Russia lower costs combined with government policies have shifted the focus of manufacturing and some service industries to Asia power will shift to the places with political and economic stability (Global Trends 2025, 2008) The world GNI will also undergo the evolution and regional repartition. As indicated on Figure 3. it is expected to reach 94,290 $Billion in 2030 comparing to 39,305 $Billion in 2004. 2004 2030 World GNI 39,305 94,290 Population 6,480 8,200 World income per capita 6,065 11,500 Figure 3. World GNI 2004 2030 (Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, 2010) This economic trend implies an average growth rate of 3.4% over 26 years. Compared to the population growth rate 1%, it means that the world income per capita will increase by 2.4% per year over the period Asia becomes a strong visible player in the regional GNI repartition (Figure 4). Figure 4. Evolution of the main economic zone in % of the world GNI (Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, 2010) Asias emerging consumers are likely to assume the traditional role of the US and European middle classes as global consumers, and to play a key role in rebalancing the worlds economy. Estimated $4.3 trillion in annual expenditures in 2008 becomes $32 trillion in 2030 and comprise about 43% of worldwide consumption (2030 GDP Forecast, Future growth of Asian Countries, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, 2010) Several researches and reports expect the rising BRIC powers which might collectively generate the original G-7s share of global GDP by 2040-2050 (Global Trends 2025, 2008). Meanwhile other sources suggest that new business opportunities will significantly rise in so-called BIICS-Brazil, India, Indonesia, China, and South Africa-shaping up to be business hot spots for many years to come (Working Beyond Borders: Insights from the Global Chief Human Resources Officer Study, IBM, 2010). But the truly new business frontier is named Africa where a group of countries already demonstrated ability to improve macroeconomic conditions, privatised state-owned enterprises, increased openness of trade and lowered corporate taxes, strengthened regulatory and legal systems, provided critical physical and social infrastructure(McKinsey Global Institute, 2010). The rate of return on foreign investment is currently higher than in any other developing region. These factors make this region very attractive for further business development and investments. According to Paul Nunes, Executive Research Fellow at the Accenture Institute for High Performance: Businesses not planning and acting now [to get into Africa] will miss the boat as many did when it came to China. Researchers forecast the standards of living will have risen by 2030. Number of high income people will increase by 8%, number of low income will decrease by 14% but inequalities will remain (Global Trends 2025, 2008). In essence, the economic world will look different than the world today. There will be multiple centers of economic powers, new players will mount the economic and political scene creating new business opportunities, overall, globalized and multi-polar world which will require organizations to re-think their strategies and re-shape their businesses to take full advantage of new opportunities and prosper. Social factors The next 20 years will be characterized by serious and inevitable demographic changes and shifts and their economic, political and social impacts will be enormous. Researchers highlight key demographics marked trends of years to come. World population will increase to 8.2 billion by 2030 with the largest increase projected in Asia and Africa and less than 3% will occur in Europe, USA, Canada, Japan (Global Trends 2025, 2008) Figure.. Population shifts will continue Africa will have the worlds largest working-age population. In 2008 the continent had more than 500 million working-age people and by 2040 its forecasted to exceed 1.1 bln (Figure, 6). Its an open question whether Africa will be able to educate its workforce to make it serious engine for business world. Figure 6. Working-age population 1950-2040 (McKinsey Global Institute, 2010) Longevity will increase significantly almost everywhere and the number of people aged 80 years or over will grow (Figure). Coming decades will be defined by the largest demographic group ever seen. By 2030 at least 3 generations having different mindset, background, expectations and attitudes will meet together in one society and work together for the same employers. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division people will be more individualistic and will forge lifestyles based on their own needs rather than social expectations norm will be to work much of the time from home or in small community hubs to avoid carbon costs and charge of lenghthy commutes more people will work as freelancers and neo-nomads expecting more autonomy and freedom power will shift where there is political and economic stability Technological factors Most of researchers emphasize the role of technology in fostering the innovation and bringing about change. Technology will be all-prevasive and universal serving as a key driver for economic and social shifts. L. Gratton (2011) suggests that technology will influence workforce and workplace in many ways the way people communicate with each other, their expectations and even their views on morality and human nature The internet Cloud will deliver low-cost computing services and enable the shift from working as an isolated individual to working collaboratively in a joined world regardless country and time zone of staying (McKinsey and Company, 2010). People across the world will be able to access enormous information including digitalized knowledge. Increased capacity to combine and connect know-how, share knowledge, information and best practices spending significantly less time to send and receive information will lead to people being more interconnected, united by new communities and networks (IBM, 2010). More than 5 bln people will be connected to mobile services (The Economist, 2011) and overall speed of live will rise. The other change which is expected to influence the workforce is massive crowd of computers replacing people in a number of jobs. Forcing the economic growth and social transformation technology will continue to reshape consumer needs, requirements, access to information, choice and interactivity models and demand companies to tap the power of technology to improve their competitive advantage (McKinsey and Company, 2010). Legislative factors The expected changes to happen in the world will place a pressure on labor regulation to force their activities in accommodating a networked, open and competitive world. The worldwide focus on growth will require companies to fundamentally rethink how they manage human resources and overcome barriers. Based on IBM 2010 Global CHRO Study, emerging ways of attracting talent like outsourcing, crowdsourcing, use of freelancers, bringing back retired workers which will assume ever greater importance and necessity to mange new forms of employments will require governments not only to develop new labor regulations but also modern information security norms and standards. The highest standards of corporate citizenship will be required by talent, by governments, by the media. There may not be world law in the foreseeable future, but the worlds legal systems will be networked. The Global Legal Information Network (GLIN), a database of local and national laws for more than 50 participating countries, will grow to include more than 100 counties by 2010. The database will lay the groundwork for a more universal understanding of the diversity of laws between nations and will create new opportunities for peace and international partnership. -Joseph N. Pelton, Toward a Global Rule of Law: A Practical Step Toward World Peace, Nov-Dec 2007, p. 25 Environmental There is a significant pressure to expect by 2030 driven by significant growth in world economy and population and rising aspirations for better standards living. As describe by OECD (Environmental Outlook to 2030, 2008) there are several key environmental challenges the humanity will have to deal with: climate change, biodiversity and renewable natural resources, water, air quality, waste management. To respond to these challenges governments will have to take the responsibility and proactively start developing a serious of actions to protect the environment. Business and consumers will play a key role to help prevent future environment problems. Its obvious that Green will become fundamental geo-political and business imperative for the planet. Changing workplace and workforce expectations Emery and Trist (1965) developed a typology describing four types of environment in which organizations operate and identified the appropriate organizational response. Environmental analysis with PESTLE demonstrates that the organizations 2030 will deal with high dynamism and high complexity pressures from outside. The organizational responses recommended by Emery and Trist (1965) for such environment types are developing fluid organization structures, flexible managers and staff at other levels. Duncan (1979) argues that what really matters is only the management perception. If management does not perceive the environment as turbulent the organizational response will not be as described. Anyway the reality out there has to be observed, studied, analyzed and reacted in an appropriate manner to stay successful (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2007). Being under pressure of future challenges which come from globalization, new era of technologies, social and demographic changes organizations will have to adapt their internal structures, processes, strategies and leader behaviors to enable them to deal effectively with external changes. Many factors that define the workplace 2030 have already become evident alerting the organizations that the time has come to start preparing today for the challenges of tomorrow. PriceWaterHouseCoopers (2010) forecasts three worlds and business models for the future (Figure) This picture of life in tomorrow combines the events and trends which will shape the future and PwC suggests all 3 worlds can co-exist in some form distinct by geographic principle or industry sector. Researchers expect the following key trends to shape the workplace and workforce 2030: Talent will be worldwide. Social networks and future technology will increase the capability for talent to network and for companies to access talent globally and 24/7. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social networking sites will become ordinary recruiting sources. As social recruiting spreads from few trendsetters to all the rest companies worldwide it be essential for both employees and employers to develop new set of skills to be successful in this way (The 2020 workplace, J. Meister, K. Willyerd, 2010). But its also expected the War for Smart Talent (www.globalfuturist.com) to be continued and probably even become sharper. There is a serious mismatch between the types of individuals available for work and specific skills employers are looking for (Manpower Talent Shortage Survey 2009). Experienced candidates who possess the required skills will be heavily demanded by the organizations worldwide. Given the increasing collaboration and growing importance of teamwork companies will consider entire teams hiring as a competitive solution to the business problem (IBM CHRO Study 2010). Skills will be specialized. Cost reductions will be an essential part of business imperatives 2020 2030 leading to the dominance of knowledge -intensive work which will require an increasingly complex set of skills. Less generalist, more in-depth mastery of specialist skills will be required. PwC in the Future of work 2020 (2010) predicts that specialization will be highly prized in each of the 3 worlds (Figure ) and employees will do their best to develop the most sought after professional skills. An increased attention by the companies will be paid to soft skills as well like problem-solving, project management and collaboration (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2010). Source: McKinsey Global Survey results Five forces reshaping the global economy (Based on online survey, in the field in March 2010) Another challenge the companies are expected to face in the future is multigenerational and increasingly diverse workforce. By 2030 3 or even 4 generations will have to collaborate together in one business environment having different mindset, background, expectations and live values. Most of the Baby Boomers cohort representatives who are now holding many CxO positions will have retired, taking with them lots of knowledge, experience and valuable expertise. It will force the companies to elaborate on ways how to retain the knowledge within the organizations developing new employment structures for soon-to-be retiring people (L. Gratton 2011). Or what we call retirement now will no longer have a traditional meaning? In terms of their characteristics, lifestyles, and attitudes, Boomers were the most populous and influential generation of all. They have defined themselves by their careers and many are workaholics. Their work is seen as a form of self-fulfillment, status, and proving th emselves, i.e., job titles matter. They have crowded into cultural careers such as teaching, religion, journalism, marketing, and the arts. Team orientation is valued. They are anticipated to work longer and harder (Eisner, 2005; Koco, 2006). They are very concerned about health and energy, looking for the sources to stay young, strong and active. Generation X will be in their mid-60s by 2030. They grew up in the time of economic uncertainty under the pressure of political and economic instability. Many wage and job opportunities for young workers were limited until the economic boom of mid-1990s. (Eisner, 2005; Lager, 2006). Success has been less certain for this generation. They do not believe in positive future time, energy, and relationships for advancement like the Boomers did. They have an economic and psychological survivor mentality and consider hard work as necessity. They had to compete in a weak global economy. Diversity and thinking globally are core values of Gen Xers ( Cranston, 2008; Francese, 2004; Ritson, 2007). The core driving business force by 2025 2030 will be generation Y aged 35 45. They witnessed the fast technological evolution with the Internet, Google, eBay, cell phones, PDAs, GPS becoming an admirable part of their lives. Integral parts of their lives is globalization, global citizens, working beyond fiscal boundaries (Hawkins, et al., 2010; Cranston, 2008; Eisner, 2005; Dietz, 2003; Gerritsen, 2008). Most of Gen Y has a strong sense of autonomy and independence, quite adaptable and comfortable in different situations. With blogging, YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter anyone can become a reporter, producer, or social advisor. Social networking is a key distinction for this generation (Dickey and Sullivan, 2007; Donnelly, 2008). Gen Y demonstrates an entrepreneurial outlook and is more work/life balance oriented and less committed to an employer than previous generations but demonstrates high commitment when dedicated to a capt uring idea. It has been observed the this generations vales life styles, career development and overseas travel and may be the most adaptable yet in terms of technological skills and values intrinsic aspects of work such as mentoring and training in order to remain marketable (Cennamo Gardner, 2008) They expect flexibility in work hours, dress code, relaxed work environment, recognition for smallest effort and constant feedback and value opportunity to downshift to reach a holistic self-understanding and satisfying meaning in life (IBM, 2011). Generation Z also called the connected generation, digital natives, the net generation (Future of work, 2012) is the newest generation and its hard to say now how they will develop as a generational cohort. By 2030 Gen Z will be taking an increasing role in society and business life. But what is known that they will grow up influenced by the factors described above in PESTLE. That is supposed to be a global and diverse generation. The technol ogical progress and next generation of social networking sites makes it possible to build online communities that are more like someones closest group of friends. (Labi, 2008b; Soltan, 2004). PwC research (2011) revealed that Gen Z will be similar to Gen Y in their expectations. But some features will be even more vivid manifested like desire for work/life balance, rapid career progression, less concern about working hours, high interest in new projects and less commitment to one employer. According to D. Tapscott (2008) Net Geners: Want freedom in everything they do Love to customize and personalize their experience Want to find entertainment in their work Are focused on collaboration and relationship building Have a need for speed They will be living in the world where equality and diversity become a societal norm. Finally, theyre going to be smart smarter even than previous generations. Their ability to process massive amounts of information quickly is actually preparing them to perform more mentally demanding jobs. In effect, an entire generation is training itself to handle more complicated tasks (IBM, 2011). Influenced by expected demographical changes described above organizations in Europe, North America, Canada will face the decline of Caucasian workers and increase of non-Caucasian. It is projected to double from 18% to 17% (The 2020 Workplace, J. Meister, K. Willyerd, 2010) While people managers are trained to deal with many forms of diversity, they will have to be prepared to manage workforce with greater diversity in age, gender and ethnicity. Social networks and virtual workspace. The rapid expansion of the digital universe and advancement in communication technologies will lead to the new meaning of being at work and create new ways on how people communicate with each other. Today for a number of jobs it is no longer needed for people to be physically located in the office to successfully perform job responsibilities and by 2030 it is forecasted most of the employers where the business allows will completely relieve their employees from working 9 to 5 office hours (Hewitt Associates, 2008). People will be free to decide where and how to organize their workplace. But Hewitt also emphasize that this capability can bring some employees new level of work/life balance satisfaction and for others its fostering workaholic tendency leading to lousy employees: tired, depressed, mistake prone, resentful, and eventually burned out (C. Salter, Solving the Real Productivity Crisis, Fast Company, January 2004). Virtual coworking will shape the future workplace. Workers from around the globe of different nations, professions, jobs, social status will be united together by many discussion forums, news groups, and virtual communities making many barriers of the past obsolete. Rapidly developing Cloud technology will make services, applications and resources accessible from any device, anywhere, any time, and if charged pay only for what they use during the time they are using it Through unprecedented access to virtual space the world of knowledge will be digitalized and enriched significantly by user-generated content (L.Gratton, 2010). Approximately 500Â  000 new users are creating every day online profiles and maintaining them on a social network (IBM 2011) and researchers forecast this number to grow over the next decades. The future workplace will look like a place where people collaborate extensively, exchange ideas, and share knowledge. The value of an employee will be determined not only by results achieved but also by how much you contribute your expertise and knowledge back to the organization (J. Meister, K. Willyerd, The 2020 workplace, 2010). The expected growth in virtual-based content will impact many organizational parts from changing corporate culture and standards of how people share knowledge and communicate with each other to the ways, policies and norms of how companys management deals with security and privacy of this explosion of the d igital content. The current workforce lifecycle has outlived its meaning. In the organizations of future individual careers are not based on relative or hierarchical moves but rather on reputational progress. Rather, people will choose the pace and direction of this progression according to their reputation and their own personal goals. Alternative careers will enable individuals to work and contribute throughout their entire lives and well beyond the traditional retirement age. In fact, the notions of retirement and retiree will be removed from our vocabulary since careers are based on the choices that each individual makes and not on the concept of seniority C. Benko and A. Molly introduced the concept of corporate lattice. In the new business world with heterogeneity of backgrounds, personal circumstances, expectations and aspirations it recognizes that career and life are no longer separate spheres but are now interdependent. This concept is expected to be a robust response to multiple changes organizations will face allowing to connect both high performance and career-life fit. Figure below describes how lattice thinking differs from ladder thinking. (C. Benko and A. Molly, The corporate lattice, ). The lattice structures an employees career path as multidirectional with opportunity to move across and down and up ensuring engagement of a diverse workforce driven mainly by desire to work for to be working with the best company, on the best projects, for the best clients, and with the best talent and team members. Source: Deloitte Development LLC, The Corporate Lattice (2010). IBM analysts (2010) elaborated and continued this concept by the next level of organizational development which can be expected by 2030 (Figure). Self-directed global-citizens will be managing their careers in a cube without limiting it to the frames of one organization. To succeed in the lattice-based organizations reputation will gain new meaning. This is the sum total of personal brand, expertise, number of successfully completed projects, ratings given by employers, breadth and depth of social networks, etc (J. Meister, K. Willyerd, The 2020 workplace, 2010). Individuals with a poor or low profile or reputation would ultimately diminish their personal brand and consequently have more difficulty securing opportunities and maintaining their labor rate against others. new employment models and employee engagement instruments that would help business navigate in the future Employee engagement is defined differently by different organizations and researchers. Here are just some of them: Corporate Leadership Council define Engagement as The extent to which employees commit to something or someone in their organization, how hard they work and how long they stay as a result of that commitment. The Gallup Organization argues that employee engagement is the involvement with and enthusiasm for work. When Hewitt Associates thinks engagement is the state of emotional and intellectual commitment to an organization or group producing behavior that will help fulfill an organizations promises to customers and improve business results. But all these definitions have a common base which is employee satisfaction with their work and ability and desire to go the extra mile and demonstrate outstanding on the job performance. Many things will be changing around and inside the organizations of the future but for the sake of sustainability employers will have to create a workplace where employees can build a personal and emotional relationship to the employer brand (J. Meister, K. Will yerd, The 2020 workplace, 2010). Basic human nature has not changed Basic human nature has not changed in 1000s of years and will remain in the future (R.J. Vance, SHRM Foundation, 2006): We want to be better: There is a competitive drive to be more competent and more capable We are social people: We are hard-wired to be part of a group We are meaning-seeking people: We want to make a difference Several sociologists who deal with generations and demographics researches suggest future generations particularly generations Y and Z will place greater importance on feedback, collaboration, self-fulfillment, meaningful contributions, skills advancement, respect, mentoring. The future workplace engagement model (J. Meister, K. Willyerd, 2010) covers the key principles that the future workplace must embody. The essential component is values which would be aligned across the generations and strong brand that employees identify with. . Meister, K. Willyerd (2010) argue there are different areas that contribute to the engagement but the model demonstrates the most important once: recruiting, employee connection, learning and leadership. These practice areas would be realized by organizations based on key principles: Collaboration: in the future external collaboration will grow exponentially Authenticity: key component is transparency through social media

The Role of Child Death Inquiries

The Role of Child Death Inquiries Recently the benefits of child death inquiries and serious case reviews have come under particular scrutiny (Corby, Doig and Roberts, 1998). This assignment will use evidenced based information and practice to find other approaches or how to improve the form of the inquiry so its benefits outweigh its limitations. The United Nations estimate that every week two children in the United Kingdom die from abuse or neglect (UNICEF, 2003). The United Nations Convention, article 3 on the rights of the child places a duty on countries to protect children from abuse or neglect, the best interests of the child must be the primary concern when making decisions which may affect them, article 6 focuses on the importance of safeguarding their right to life (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1992). There are two types of child death inquiries; serious case reviews and public inquiries. A serious case review takes place when a child dies and abuse or neglect is suspected. They also take place in other circumstances where serious situations have occurred for example where a child has suffered from serious sexual abuse. The purpose of child death inquiries according to Working Together, 2010 is for agencies and individuals to learn where problems have arisen and to learn from these to improve their practice. The lessons learnt should be given to all individuals who work in this area to ensure they safeguard children in the correct way. When agencies already know where certain problems lie they should improve upon them before the serious case review is finished. A public inquiry for example The Colwell Report (1974), The Climbà © inquiry (2003) is a inquiry ordered by the government to review events, in this case child deaths. To conclude where practice could be improved upon, rec ommendations can be given and lessons can be learnt. Under regulation 5 of the local safeguarding childrens board requires that the local safeguarding children board undertakes reviews of serious cases. Serious case reviews must establish lessons to be learnt, identify which lessons are within agencies and which between and how long they have to act upon the changes to be undertaken. The reviews must also improve upon inter and intra agency working to promote and safeguard the wellbeing of children (chapter 8, Working Together, 2010). Laming (2009) states that serious case reviews are an important tool for learning lessons. Currently there is debate regarding the approach used in serious case reviews some believe that there are different approaches to take to learn from poor social work practice. Effective safeguarding practice is an approach considered, to learn from what is already proven to work. The obvious aim of child death inquiries is to try and avoid future tragedies. There is a repetitive circle within child protection. Families collide with professionals and most of the outcomes involve protection. The tensions involved between families and professionals involve competition of rights. The Human Rights Act, 1998 article 8 stipulates the familys right to a private family life and to be able to conduct their lives according to their culture and understanding. The opposite to this argument is to ensure all children are protected. When should professionals become involved? Parton (1991) describes the dilemma of how can the state establish the rights of the child and still promote the family to be an independent body in which to raise their children how they see fit and not intervene in all families and consequently reduce its autonomy. Depending on the theoretical viewpoint the professionals and current Government takes would impose when the state should intervene. A laissez-faires government would have little intervention. State paternalism is a perspective which favours more involvement of state intervention to protect children from abuse. This theory regards the childs welfare as more important than family autonomy. This perspective was reflected in the Children Act, 1989 as it introduced the expression likely for the child to be in significant harm. If there is a likelihood of significant harm there are possibilities of child protection orders being produced, and in other extensions of state power. Tensions between the duties that social workers have to safeguard children, the familys right to a private family life, the rights of the child, working in partnership with the parents and understanding when the state should intervene cause problems within social work practice. Knowing when to intervene has always been a problem for social workers within this area. Malcolm Hill (1990) found that published child abuse inquiry reports identified working with parents as a common problem. He found that papers noted access difficulties, in a number of cases parents didnt cooperate when the social worker needed to see the child at risk. Hill (1990) concluded that papers found social workers were too ready to believe parents. Hill (1990) concluded that the Colwell report (1974) found that social workers should focus on parents demonstrating their parenting skills and not to assume all was well because the parents said so. Social workers also need to look at the care the child is receiving holistically not focus on single areas of the family where they are showing positive steps, for example social workers may be satisfied as the family are participating in counselling but they need to still look at their parenting at home whilst this continues. Thus depending on the theoretical viewpoint the social worker takes decides when they should intervene. This assignment will adopt a state paternalism perspective, this perspective although draws conclusions that the child is likely to suffer significant harm which may affect the family relationships and autonomy its better to intervene now then wait until abuse or neglect has taken place and then safeguarding the child. This perspective takes a view that children have a high priority in society, they have rights to high standards of care and using this approach ensures that they are protected at all costs by the force of the law (Fox Harding, 1997). Child death inquiries are seen as an important tool used to improve local practice and implementing wider community health approaches to improve upon infant mortality rates. Bunting and Reid (2005) found that there numerous benefits to serious case reviews taking place. These included; more effective multi agency working, improved communication between agencies, they found that death certificates had become more informative they also found that from participating in serious case reviews practitioners had more knowledge surrounding child death and the causes of them ensuring a further focus on preventative measures of child death rather than focusing on child abuse. Corby et al (1998) have found that there is a growing concern on the impact of child inquiries on professionals especially social workers. They found that whilst inquiries were taking place social workers face continual criticism. The Maria Colwell case made social work practice public and put it under great scrutiny. Professionals within this case became points of focus of criticism, their work was scrutinised in incorrect contexts focusing on training of social workers affecting their morale significantly (Corby et al, 1998). The impact of child death inquiries on social workers and other professionals in this area can be psychological and emotional. Corby et al (1998) argues both sides of the case that child death inquiries can highlight poor practice and the need for the public to know why children already known to social services and other departments can still go on to be abused and killed. However the emotional and psychological effects on social workers can be so detrimental because of the scrutiny they are under, their work will be affected, and affecting further work they do. Corby et al (1998) investigated child abuse cases and inquiries and how useful they are and what changes have been made by using child death and abuse inquiries as an approach. Of the seventy inquiries they investigated between 1945 and 1997 they all produced similar recommendations in areas of improving inter agency co-ordination, training of professionals, improving child protection systems and using more experienced staff. Corby used this information to highlight that changes made between 1945 and 1997 have not been substantial as inquiries continue to make the same recommendations. Child death inquires do have their place in the public eye specifically when practice goes wrong, nevertheless they have a number of limitations. Child death inquiries affect personal confidence of the social workers and other professionals when they become embroiled within the investigation. Due to the nature of the child death inquiries the public only see the negatives of social workers, social workers fear the association of such inquiries. Practice will not change when inquiries focus solely on the structure of children and families department. If social workers feel like the target when involved in inquiries their work will be affected therefore affecting the work they do further on for example other children may be more at risk because social workers have no confidence in the work they are practicing. To use child death inquiries as a vehicle for policy development may not be the most effective approach to take. Child death inquiries are very expensive. If a more effective approach was to be taken and social workers and other professionals were able to learn more from this different process it would be more beneficial to take this approach than to carry on using money and concluding the same issues. Parton (2004) has found that the same issues have been identified on numerous times without any obvious changes in social work practice. Devaney, Lazenbatt and Bunting (2010) found that child death inquiries can still be effective but more emphasis needs to be on recommendations, implementing and acting upon them. Devaney et al (2010) also argue that policy makers need more understanding of the difficult situations in which children are at more risk from abuse or neglect. Devaney et al (2010) argue that this can help the policy makers express what social workers can do and make a disti nction between that and what should be done. Child death inquiries make assumptions that something has gone wrong and that the inquiry can find out what and give recommendations to learn from the mistakes. It assumes that practice will change because of the recommendations given and many inquiries dont focus on acting upon the recommendations, if they did then future inquiries wouldnt produce the same recommendations. Inquiries assume that the method they use is sophisticated. However, research into inquiries and literature has shown that other approaches could be more effective and less intrusive in practice and less strain can be put on professionals. Inquiries assume that multi agency working will be more effective, though if tensions between professionals are problematic then these will be difficult to resolve. Inquiries cannot assume that these tensions can be worked at by the professionals they need a superior management style to overlook the different professionals to be able to work effectively together. As well as the implications for social workers individually and for policy makers regarding the process of child death inquiries, organisational structures will be also be impacted upon when changing child welfare policy. Due to changes within organisations, for example changes in roles of professionals involved in child death inquiries the foundations of interprofessional multi agency work are not secure, concluded because inquiries focus excessively on the role of social workers rather than the antecedents of child death or abuse. With regards to the case of Maria Colwell (1974) the Secretary of State Barbara Castle concluded that social workers alone cannot solve the underlying problems. All professionals in this field of child welfare need to understand their role but if child welfare policy continues to change constantly the role cannot be undertaken as professionals have poor ideas of what their role is and how they should practice. All professionals need to work effectively to gether and have an understanding of delivering comprehensive services to diverse communities so no children are lost in the system or ignored. The importance of effective interprofessional multi agency work is such that until there is a balance of role and practice then the safeguarding of future children may be affected. Contemporary social work values may be affected, social workers have their own values personally and from learning from experience. Social workers must focus on human rights and social justice as their motivation for social work. Some critiques may argue that depending on the theoretical framework for example state paternalism some social workers may not be able to justify their motivation to impose this framework in their practice by not letting the family have a right to private family life (Human Rights, article 8) and be too quick to intervene. To ensure anti discriminatory practice social workers must understand different cultures have different behaviours when it comes to parenting. The social worker may think it is not appropriate, the family however may believe differently. This can lead to the social worker to not act at all. The social worker must ensure anti discriminatory practice, they need to see things from the perspective of the culture the family employs. Though stil l maintaining the values and knowledge they have regarding child abuse and when they should intervene. They must keep each case individual and make judgements based on evidence, not on their assumptions. To evaluate how useful child death inquiries are as a vehicle for policy development evidence needs to be considered whilst investigating journal papers to gain an understanding of where bias may occur. Using a wide range of sources gives a broader idea of what has been proven to work in social work practice (Roberts and Yeager, 2006). Research evidence is more valued than other sources, those papers that are repeatable and use a large amount of participants are more likely to have less prejudice in concluding how useful child death inquiries are as a vehicle for policy development. Higgs and Jones (2000) propose that evidence is knowledge derived from various sources, which has been tested and found credible. Having read all the information the weight of evidence suggests that changes need to be made to the approach of child death inquiries. The limitations and implications to practice are too substantial to ignore. Professionals and public havent seen any major changes because of the recommendations give by the inquiries. Corby et al (1998) found that of seventy public inquiries between 1945 and 1997 the main focus of recommendations was on improvements on inter agency co-ordination and improving the training of staff. The gap between the time of the death of the child and receiving the results of the inquiry is detrimental to social workers. Corby et al (1998) also argue that the cost of inquiries and the negative impact on social workers affecting their future practice may create more risk to other children they are safeguarding because they dont have the confidence to practice anymore. The most effective approach to take would be one that focuses with less scrutiny on the social worke rs so their confidence is not affected and acts upon the recommendations it has made. Policy can develop by using a different vehicle instead of child death inquiries. At the minute the impact of changing child welfare policy on social workers and organisational structure is considerable. An improved approach to child death inquiries can be more effective in changing policy than the constant changes that are currently happening because of the results from child death inquiries.

How We Spend New Years Eve in Japan :: Essays Papers

How We Spend New Year's Eve in Japan What do you usually do on New Year's Eve? Does your family have something special to do for the New Year? Maybe you have a party at the bar or your friend's house, or you may spend time with your family. In Japan, the way of spending time on New Year's Eve is pretty different from the American way. In the morning, we Japanese people clean the whole house. This process is called Ousouji in Japan. This doesn't mean that Japanese people clean the house only once a year. There is a special meaning for this cleaning. Its purpose is to welcome the New Year and to wish a better life than the former year. Cleaning the house, which is covered with annual dust, is a really important way to start a new year. After finishing Ousouji, women start cooking Osechi. This is a traditional Japanese dish which is eaten a few days after the New Year. The dish is based on fish, beans, and egg. We eat Osechi because there is an old story saying one shouldn't use a cooking knife within three days from the New Year. This gives a break to the mother who cooks every day. While women are cooking Osechi, men are hanging Shimenawa, which is a kind of decoration made from rice stems. It is hung on the front door. This custom comes from the farmer's wish to have a good harvest next year. Today, we wish for good fortune and a good year. Evening time, after we finish preparing for New Year's, we normally watch a TV program called Singing Battle Between the Red and the White Team. It has been on the air for about 50 years and keeps over 50 percent of the audience's ratings every year. We think about this program as a part of a closing moment of the year. While, or after watching singing battle, we eat Toshikoshi Soba, which means "New Year's Eve Noodle" in English. As you know, the noodle is long, so we wish longer life, including healthy body, by eating Toshikoshi Soba. Finally, the last thing to do for New Year's Eve is to listen to Juya No Kane, which means "the watch-night bell" in English. This bell is like a countdown in America. But we ring it 108 times.