Writing a Business Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Writing a Business Plan - Essay Example The cell phones will be widely used by all members and for all purposes of communication as they will have been tested by the relevant authorities to ensure that they do not pose health problems to the users. The plan of starting up a cell phone recycling company was occasioned by the recent developments reported by the United Nations with regards to endangered species in various parts of the world caused by human activities conducted to encourage the production of cell phones. The cell phones produced by the company will cater for average citizens who spend heavily in purchasing phones yearly. The cell phones will tremendously help them to cut their expenses in purchasing phones while at the same time conserving the environment. Secondly, the cell phones will also cater for underprivileged individuals as they will obtain them at an affordable cost The main competitors will be other companies dealing in the same line of cell phone recycling. However, the company will have a competitive advantage over them because of highly trained staffs, more financial incentives and providing customers with a means of mailing or transporting their used cell phones and electronics within the company’s premises free of charge. The cell phones will be extremely effective as they will have the latest technology updates. The shape of the design will be different from those of existing cell phones to give it uniqueness over other phones. The cell phones will also be developed within months and will be launched in the markets in six months time by a team of highly trained engineers with a specialty in different fields. The main source of revenue for the company will be from the sales of the cell phones. It will also involve the donations given to the company by Non-governmental organizations and other well wishers keen on conserving the environment. The prices for the cell phone will be cheaper compared

Effects of Central Bank Independence on Inflation Rates

Effects of Central Bank Independence on Inflation Rates Abstract This paper analyses and explains the effects of central bank independence on a countrys inflation rates and its economic performance thereafter. It deals with the benefits believed to come along with independence and the delegation of monetary policy to the central bank, the determinants and accuracy of the index of central bank independence (CBI), and the different impact that CBI has on developed and developing countries. The studies and test conducted have shown that CBI lowers inflation in developed countries but in developing countries it might have the reverse effects, mainly due to the degree of independence, and factors like traditions, the law, and the statue of the economy which vary across countries. 1. Introduction This paper intends to study the relationship between central bank independence (CBI) and inflation levels among different countries; developing and industrialized. The main research problem that I intend to examine is whether central bank independence can lower the inflation rates of the countries that grant independence to their central banks, and whether this can lead to improved economic performance. What is discussed in this paper is not only whether central bank independence (CBI) can lower inflation and hence inflation variability, but also whether this can be achieved at low cost. The economies presented in the study include both those of the developed countries, e.g. the U.K., as well as those in transition e.g. Russia that have recently gained entrance in the EU. In this paper I analyze the impact of CBI on inflation, the benefits that are believed to come along with CBI and the factors used in measuring CBI. You will see that CBI can have different forms of measurement that produce slightly different results, hence the effectiveness of the CBI index is also analyzed. The reason for choosing this topic for further study is simply because during the past two decades there has been a considerable move towards central bank independence across several countries, with the belief that this will improve their inflation levels and thus contribute to economic growth. However, as you will see further on, this is not always the case, as some studies have revealed contradicting results, and economists and academics continue their studies to get a clerer picture of this issue. 2. The Spread of CBI and The Reasons for It To begin with, it is amazing how fast CBI has spread among countries and governments since the late 1980s. One simple explanation of this spread is A.Alesinas (1988; 845) statement: independent central banks have been associated with a lower average inflation rate and may have been responsible for reducing politically induced volatility of monetary policy and inflation 2.1 Should a central bank become independent? Folder (2005) explains that CBI was adopted to avoid possible disputes between political parties as a central bank is seen as a provider of information. Many economists have expressed their opinion on the spread of CBI; others have linked it to a way of avoiding the blame of political failure by some governmental parties (Miller, G. 1998, White 1994). Others have linked it to the infrequent changes of the government (de Haan and vant Hag, 1995). That is, central bank independence in many cases was adopted after periods of high inflation in order to reduce it, due to the inflation targeting function a central bank is capable of pursuing. It can also be associated with the attraction of foreign investment and hence economic growth as a consequence of the targets set and the autonomy with which the bank can then operate (Maxfield, 1997). In countries within the European Union, CBI is a perquisite following the Maastricht Treaty (1992) for adopting the euro currency. Overall and according to Folder (2005), independence has always been related to the adoption of anti-inflationary measures for pursuing monetary policy, but its explanation lies within the sociology of the financial elites and the politics legitimizing their policy preferences. The reasons behind achieving price stability through gaining central bank independence, Cukierman (1996) explains are several and include; the breakdown of other institutions like the European Monetary System (EMS) that had been responsible for maintaining price stability which is considered as the single and most significant objective of a central bank. Ilieva and Gregoriou (2005) suggest that in transition economies central bank independence has increased mainly due to the desire of such countries like e.g. Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, etc., to join the European Union and the acquis communautaire that applicant countries should adopt. As they continue to reason the addiction to CBI, they add that another incentive for CBI is the international financial institutions such as the IMF (International Monetary Fund) that require certain criteria to be met before making unconditional loans, and these criteria are feasibly met with the help of CBI. Also, countries are attracted to CBI as this will attract potential investors by improving the nations creditworthiness. Cukierman, A. (1996) analyses developments since the late 1980s to the legal independence of central banks and to its meaning; the measurement of CBI, the interaction of central banks with the government, its effect on the economy, its determinants, etc According to Cukierman, the trend towards CBI is due to a quest for price stability which is due to the following two reasons: First, following the stagflation of the seventies and the adverse economic performance of some high inflation countries, in Latin America and elsewhere, conventional wisdom concerning inflation and real growth has changed. Whereas during the sixties the accepted view was in line with Keynesian dogma, that some inflation is good for growth, during the eighties and nineties became that inflation and the associate uncertainties retard growth. (1996; 3) The good economic performance of Japan and Germany, countries with already low inflation added more value to the above concept. Second, the rapid growth and internationalization of capital markets raised the importance of price stability as governments and private investors sought to enhance their access to broadening world financial markets. (1996; 3) 2.2 Types of Central Bank Independence Independence with regards to central banking can be categorized into different groups, depending on the degree of freedom and the subject from which the central bank becomes independent. The major types of independence are; Legal independence, where the bank is partly accountable to the government and legislation provides a framework within which the central bank and the government cooperate on certain issues. This form of independence varies significantly among countries as it depends on how strong in the law in each country and the degree to which it is followed. However, the degree of legal independence, namely LVAW, as it will be shown below, has been used by many as a major index of measuring the degree of CBI. Goal independence refers to the case where the central bank is allowed to set its own goals, e.g. price stability, money supply, inflation targeting. However in most cases under this type of independence, the bank will decide on its goals with the confirmation of the relevant governmental departments. In this way, goal independence helps avoiding conflicts among fiscal and monetary policies, and increases the level of transparency and credibility of the central bank over its goals. Operational independence is the most common form of independence and is followed by many central banks around the world, for instance, the Bank of England since 1997. It involves the government setting the banks goals e.g. a 2% level of inflation, but the central bank being free to choose the instruments e.g. interest rates, to meet the targets set by the government. Another form of independence is managerial independence, by which the central bank has the power of appointing its own stuff, set its budget, etc. This form is a necessity for the existence of the other abovementioned forms of central bank independence and is therefore granted to all central banks that can call themselves independent. 2.3 The case for central bank independence There is a huge surge towards central bank independence by both the public and the governments, in the belief that independent central banks will not only achieve low inflation rates and price stability, but will subsequently lead to long-term economic growth and development. However CBI is an issue that needs further research before determining whether it should be adopted by all countries. This depends on the economic state of the country, whether it is a developed or a developing country or even on the demand of autonomy by the political parties within the country since by granting independence the government must pass to the bank the responsibilities of e.g. controlling the interest rates, etc. over which it used to have the power. Another issue that needs to be examined before granting independence to a central bank is the political stability and the degree of uncertainty within the country. This is because in times of uncertainty and instabilities, e.g. prior to elections, the public favours CBI as an independent central bank is more objective in its role and always forward looking without ignoring the long-term effects of its decisions. The majority of the parties affected by the actions of an independent central bank, i.e. the government as well as the general public are attracted by CBI because of the greater accountability and transparency the bank is equipped with when adopting a greater degree of autonomy. Moreover, it is expected to bring lower levels of inflation and this is the main reason why people welcome CBI and the number of central banks becoming independent has been increasing over the years. The main reason behind this expectation is because a central bank generally acts in favor of the public and in addition to the fact that it becomes free from the government and any political pressures, it is in a position to avoid short-term temptations regarding low interest rates which the government usually uses prior to electoral periods, for the sake of long-term low inflation and price stability, which in combination with other exogenous factors can result in economic growth. Moreover, when a central bank gains its independence through institutional reform it becomes capable of appointing its own governor thus it moves away from political interference, and can also set an explicit inflation target. Additionally and as Carlstrom, T.C. and Fuerst, S.T. (2006) explain independence helps a central bank in constraining the behavior of fiscal authorities. That is, it can prevent people and especially the government following fiscal policy from acting in their short-term best interests, recognizing that any actions taken in the short-term e.g. lowering the interest rates to attract investments, may become undesirable in the long-term, e.g. rising inflation levels as with higher demand from low interest rates, the prices will likely increase. In this way, CBI also prevents the fiscal authorities from inflating the short-term for delivering e.g. favorable exchange rates. Hence, monetary policy can run in a more credible way and following the targets set, markets w ill know what to expect thus shocks will be limited. However an independent central bank is also likely in extreme cases to bring so low levels of inflation that can be harmful to the economy. According to Epstein, G. (2007), the 3.5% drop in inflation levels by countries adopting an inflation-targeting monetary policy (IMF, 2006) is questionable as to whether this decline will improve economic growth. Explicitly, if the inflation level of a country is already low and the central bank adopts an inflation-targeting monetary policy then the resulting lower inflation level might prove dangerous to the economy by generating economic cycles. Cukierman (1996) has developed two separate approaches for reasoning the urge towards central bank independence and explaining the benefits that can be enjoyed from independence. These include; the theoretical approach according to which in the short-run monetary policy can be conducted in such a way that it allows for some inflation so that it can achieve employment, high economic activity and low interest rates. Hence, policy makers can expect some degree of inflation which they will present in the form of nominal wage and capital market contracts. In this way however, policy makers will have to keep inflation at a level that would balance the real equilibrium if they had been committed to zero-inflation. As a result of this discretionary use of monetary policy, this is subject to inflationary bias, and this bias can only be minimised if monetary policy is delegated to an independent central bank because only this institution is free to choose how to operate monetary policy and takes interest mostly if not only to price stability. And the empirical approach by which the case of CBI lies on empirical evidence showing that countries with an independent central bank have lower inflation rates and higher growth rates per capita output. An example of such a country is New Zealand: 2.3.1 The case of New Zealand New Zealand is a country whose central bank managed to drop the inflation level after being granted with greater independence. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand was granted independence in 1989 following the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act of 1989 and had therefore established an explicit inflation target. The result was to reduce inflation levels from 7.6% during the years 1955-1988 from when the reserve bank was not independent, down to just 2.7%, after becoming independent, during the period 1989-2000. The latter rate is now considered one of the lowest among industrialized countries. It is obvious that among all OPEC countries, the central bank of New Zealand managed to achieve the lowest inflation rate, especially during the 1990s. What happened during the period of the inflation reduction was that the reserve bank of New Zealand went through a reform that resulted in it being granted with independence and a greater degree of autonomy, leading to low inflation. Specifically, prior to 1989 it used to be an arm of the government. Monetary policy used to be subject to the ministry of finance and therefore the government. As a result, the level of independence was one of the lowest among industrialized countries, while the level of inflation was of the highest. Even then, the relationship between central bank independence was negative, even though the results were the reverse of what is considered optimum, i.e. greater independence, lower inflation. In 1989, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act was passed by law. This act codifies inflation targeting and gives more autonomy to the countrys central bank in order to meet its objectives. According to the Act the central banks primary function is: to formulate and implement monetary policy directed to the economic objective of achieving and maintaining stability in the general level of prices. (Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act, 1989 as quoted in Carlstrom T.C. and Fuerst, S.T., 2006, p.3). The impact of the Act on New Zealands economy and specifically the Reserve Banks autonomy can be seen in figure 2 below, which compares the degree of independence across different time periods and among different countries. The findings of the New Zealand case show that if the country had adopted independence earlier then its average inflation rate would be 3.4% rather than 7.6% that it actually used to be, assuming all other things being equal. Following this assumption, CBI itself would be sufficient to reduce worldwide inflation levels from 5.6% down to 3.8%. Despite the considerable drop in New Zealands inflation rate it is still questionable whether this drop was caused solely by CBI, and it is difficult, if not impossible, to quantify by how much the inflation reduction was due to CBI. Firm conclusions cannot be made yet since the data used in this case is of limited sample size and comparisons would therefore be insufficient. What is true is that the relationship between CBI and inflation is similar across time. Any changes to the strength of this relationship are mostly due to macroeconomic and other factors such as the state of the economy, the state of the government, e.g. democracy, etc. and others that will be explained later in this paper. 3. Measuring Central Bank Independence The degree of CBI for each central bank varies according to the state of each country and to compliance with the law. As Cukierman explains, in developing countries where compliance with the law is poor, a suitable proxy for CBI would be the turnover of central bank governors, whereas in industrialised countries such a proxy would be legal independence. Generally, when the appropriate index of independence is used, the results indicate an inverse relationship between CBI and inflation. However, care should be taken not to mistake legal independence with actual independence, as legal independence is necessary but does not guarantee actual independence; legal independence is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for a truly independent CB. (Cukierman, A., 2001; 7). Exceptions exist, like developed countries, where legal independence seems to be a good proxy because law is highly complied. For a clearer picture of the effectiveness of CBI on the economy, it is preferred that some variables that make up the CBI index are used in combination, or that some indices are used only for a specific purpose. For instance, legal independence is a good proxy for actual independence in developed countries rather than in developing ones. 3.1 The Cukierman Index of CBI The method that will be used the most in this paper to measure the degree of central bank independence and its relationship with inflation will be Cukierman Index (1992), the most widely accepted and used index for this purpose. Initially, the exact definition of the Cukierman Index according to Siklos, P. (1992; 65) is: An indicator of the degree of autonomy enjoyed by several central banks. Cukierman Index to demonstrate graphically the measures of CBI and inflation during two different decades, namely the 1980s and the 1990s: As can be seen in the above graphs during the 1980s even though CBI was not common across countries, there was a negative relationship between CBI and inflation level. This means that the greater the level of independence of a central bank, the lower the level of inflation within the particular country. It is thus obvious that the correlation between CBI and inflation is negative, whereas the errors overall are not fitted closely on the regression line. We should note however that the decade of 1980s was before central banks especially those within industrialized countries underwent major reforms in their statutes which then allowed them a greater degree of autonomy. During the 1990s as Siklos, P. (2002) explains, most central banks went through a reform, as there was a trend towards CBI. As a result the overall degree of CBI increased and all index values were revised upwards, the government granting more autonomy to central banks, in the belief that greater independence would just be adequate for lowering the level of inflation. However, the relationship between CBI and inflation during the 1990s turned out to be the reverse of that of the previous decade. That is, the correlation between CBI-inflation now became weaker but positive since the regression line on the scatter gram in figure 3b has an upward slope, meaning that inflation increases with the degree of independence. It is hard to explain what was wrong with the findings of the 1990s that caused the correlation to be positive, however one might argue that CBI increased for all countries during the 1990s and so it also reflects the inflation performance of the previous decade, although the more independent central banks have delivered lower inflation levels in the 1980s. Furthermore, the Cukierman Index used is believed to contain some inaccuracies concerning the measurements of the degree on independence and thereafter the relationship of that with inflation because it was extended from the 1980s towards the 1990s in a different way than the one initially specified. For this reason more tests will be carried out to explain and compare the effectiveness of measuring CBI using the Cukierman Index in contrast to other indices developed for the same purpose, for instance Alesina and Summers Index. The Cukierman Index will also be used to test the effect of CBI on inflation in transition economies, based on Ilieva and Gregoriou (2005) paper regarding inflation performance, i.e. average inflation and inflation variance, and CBI in transition economies during the period 1991-2003. 3.2 The determinants of the CBI index The degree of independence varies across countries. This is not only due to factors such as the type of independence of each bank, although the most common is operational independence, the degree of law compliance in each country, and tradition, but some other systematic factors as well. Such factors are described and categorized by Cukierman, who presents some hypotheses on these factors: Hypotheses about the determinants of CBI Initially, it is widely accepted that any form of inflationary bias raises the independence of central banks to the degree that politicians wish to grant to the CB. The main idea behind this concept is that the benefits of delegating monetary policy to an independent central bank will be higher when inflation bias is higher in instances of e.g. employment reaction to inflation shocks. This delegation according to Cukierman helps in preventing the competing political party from taking on activities not favoured by the government. Secondly, Cukierman et al (1992, 2001) make the hypothesis that: the wider are the financial markets and the more elastic the supply of funds to government with respect to the interest rate, the more likely is the CB to be independent. (2001; 19). Additionally, Maxfield (1995) supports that political authorities favour CBI where there is need for funds. When this need is high as he explains, the government delegates more authority to the central bank in order to signal the nations creditworthiness. Finally, the cases of countries that have experienced extremely high levels of inflation in the past, like Germany, Austria, and Brazil, show that such countries are more likely to delegate independence to a central bank so that politicians do not interfere with monetary policy. 3.3 The measurement of the CBI Index Due to the widespread concept that the degree of independence of a nations central bank plays a crucial role upon the policy actions and inflation, Cukierman (1992) presents an analysis of the effects of CBI on inflation and provides various indicators of CBI. However, as he explains, the degree of CBI is determined by several factors from legal to cultural some of which are difficult to measure and quantify, therefore the impact of CBI on inflation varies among countries and there is a certain degree of uncertainty about the level of CBI. As a result, the measurement and the creation of an index of CBI have been based on legal independence, as the degree of CBI also depends on the degree of independence granted to the bank by the law. Despite the variations in the degree of CBI, it can be deduced that a low degree of CBI is linked with higher levels of inflation and inflation variability, while the level of credibility of a central bank with a low degree of CBI will be lower. Cukierman presents three different sets of indicators of CBI; a proxy for legal independence and proxies for the deviations of actual from legal independence. Independence measured under these proxies is limited specifically to the Central banks ability to meet a single objective; price stability. The reason for using several proxies in measuring CBI is because each proxy is a noisy indicator that captures a somewhat different aspect of CB independence (Cukierman, 1992; 370), so using a combination of them reduces this noisiness of the overall measure 3.3.1 Measuring and Coding Legal Central Bank Independence Using a proxy of legal independence is vital in making comparisons with previous studies on the impact of CBI on economic issues because all existing attempts on the features of an independent central bank rely on the banks legal independence. Cukierman presents the indices of legal aspects of CBI by separating into four groups the variables which make for a legally independent central bank. These groups are: Chief executive officer: CEO Policy formulation: PF Final Objectives: OBJ Limitations on lending: LLand codes them by the degree of independence of each group for the central bank of each of the countries included in the study. The main assumptions made are; the central banks whose single objective is price stability are considered to be more independent, so are central banks with stricter limitations on lending from the CB. The coding involves sixteen different variables in a scale from 0 (least independence) to 1 (maximum independence), during the time period 1950-1989, separated into four different decades. Due to the narrow definition of each of the variables used and the consequent lack of precision and multicollinearity problems that may arise, these variables are aggregated into eight legal variables by just calculating the unweighted mean of the codings used. Furthermore, it is necessary to have an additional single index of legal independence for each country to assess the aggregate legal independence of the CB. This index can have two alternatives, the LVAU and the LVAW, that are computed by calculating the average of the codings of the first eight variables as described above. Table 1 in Appendix A shows the ranking of the countries according to the legal independence of their central banks as measured by the LVAU during the eighties decade. The LVAW would also give a similar picture. Looking at the table of results one can see that among the seven most highly-ranked countries four are developed (Switzerland, West Germany, Austria and U.S.), while among the seven least-ranked countries four are less developed (Morocco, Panama, Yugoslavia and Poland). Generally, the top 10% of the rankings is comprised of developed countries, whereas the bottom 10% is concentrated with less developed countries. One should also note that there had been no hyperinflation experienced by developed countries during the 1980s, while some of the Latin America countries have, e.g. Brazil and Bolivia with a rate of 230%. This according to Cukierman may suggest that legal CBI may be neither necessary nor sufficient for low inflation. (1992; 382). 3.3.2 The turnover rate of Central Bank governors as a proxy for actual independence As already explained, the legal status of the central bank is just one of the several determinants of actual CBI. There is no clear systematic indicator of actual CBI, but Cukierman (1992) presents two sets of such indicators. One is based on the actual turnover rate of the central banks governor, and the other is based on the answers given to a questionnaire on CBI. Table 2 in Appendix B shows the CB governors turnover rates for the period 1980-1989. It is assumed that the lower the turnover rate the higher the degree of actual independence. Although the results are chronologically old, it is obvious that turnover rates in less developed countries occupy a range that has never been experienced by developed countries. It is indicative that more than half of the less developed countries have a turnover rate higher than the maximum of the rate of developed countries. It is clear that less developed countries experience higher inflation rates, on the grounds of lower actual CBI. On the other hand, low turnover does not necessarily imply a high level of CB independence on the grounds that a relatively subservient governor will tend to stay in office longer than a governor who stands up to the executive branch. (Cukierman, 1992; 385) Critically assessing the results, since the maximum turnover rate for developed countries is 0.2 (.e. five years) suggests that the turnover proxy may not be effective proxies for actual CBI for the sample of developed countries, whereas this proxy can be considered indicative for the sample of developing countries since these have turnover rates exceeding 0.2. 3.3.3 Central Bank Independence from answers to a questionnaire Another aspect of characterizing CBI is the questionnaire. Under this method, answers were obtained from qualified central bankers from twenty-four countries during the period 1980-1989. The main questions asked covered the issues of; legal independence, final monetary policy objectives, monetary policy instruments, actual independence and its divergence from the law and intermediate targets and their indicators. In coding the variables of the questionnaire, the bank is assumed to be more independent, all other things being equal, if the following hold; the term of office of the CB governor is longer than that of the government, limitations exist on lending from the CB which the government is in no position of altering, and in cases where stock targets exist because these mean that the CB is more free to meet its price stability target. Table 3 in Appendix C shows the ranking of central banks by aggregate indices of independence according to questionnaire responses. The aggregate indices of QVAU and QVAW reflect the law and the way it is implemented in practice respectively, as well as important information about actual independence, and are very similar (à ?=0.99). The rankings agree to earlier studies that central banks of developed countries are more independent. However, the median of QVAU for developed countries, that is 0.6 for Britain and Lebanon, is greater than the median for less developed countries, that is 0.49 for Uruguay, and this contradicts the above findings for legal independence using the LVAU. When measuring the degree of CBI it should be taken into account that the measures used above fail to quantify all the aspects of CBI as some are difficult to quantify. Such aspects are the quality of the banks research department and its standing in comparison to other economic research institutions within the public sector (Cukierman, 1992). Independence is generally higher in countries with highly-developed financial markets according to Cukierman because the supervision of financial institutions is under the authority of the CB, so the larger the market the more wide the span of the CBs authority. 4. Central Bank Independence and Inflation Targeting In this section the impact of central bank independence on inflation, inflation variability and the economy overall is analyzed using a model to test whether CBI can actually lower inflation, and comparing the effects of CBI by using both the Cukierman and the Alesina indices of CBI. Additionally, the costs of achieving lower inflation through central bank independence are also explained. MacCallum, B. (1995) believes that it is strong will that is necessary for proper policy behaviour by central banks, not rules and regulations. A policy maker, i.e. a central banker in this case should act immediately to an inflation shock to restore the problem without letting any sp Effects of Central Bank Independence on Inflation Rates Effects of Central Bank Independence on Inflation Rates Abstract This paper analyses and explains the effects of central bank independence on a countrys inflation rates and its economic performance thereafter. It deals with the benefits believed to come along with independence and the delegation of monetary policy to the central bank, the determinants and accuracy of the index of central bank independence (CBI), and the different impact that CBI has on developed and developing countries. The studies and test conducted have shown that CBI lowers inflation in developed countries but in developing countries it might have the reverse effects, mainly due to the degree of independence, and factors like traditions, the law, and the statue of the economy which vary across countries. 1. Introduction This paper intends to study the relationship between central bank independence (CBI) and inflation levels among different countries; developing and industrialized. The main research problem that I intend to examine is whether central bank independence can lower the inflation rates of the countries that grant independence to their central banks, and whether this can lead to improved economic performance. What is discussed in this paper is not only whether central bank independence (CBI) can lower inflation and hence inflation variability, but also whether this can be achieved at low cost. The economies presented in the study include both those of the developed countries, e.g. the U.K., as well as those in transition e.g. Russia that have recently gained entrance in the EU. In this paper I analyze the impact of CBI on inflation, the benefits that are believed to come along with CBI and the factors used in measuring CBI. You will see that CBI can have different forms of measurement that produce slightly different results, hence the effectiveness of the CBI index is also analyzed. The reason for choosing this topic for further study is simply because during the past two decades there has been a considerable move towards central bank independence across several countries, with the belief that this will improve their inflation levels and thus contribute to economic growth. However, as you will see further on, this is not always the case, as some studies have revealed contradicting results, and economists and academics continue their studies to get a clerer picture of this issue. 2. The Spread of CBI and The Reasons for It To begin with, it is amazing how fast CBI has spread among countries and governments since the late 1980s. One simple explanation of this spread is A.Alesinas (1988; 845) statement: independent central banks have been associated with a lower average inflation rate and may have been responsible for reducing politically induced volatility of monetary policy and inflation 2.1 Should a central bank become independent? Folder (2005) explains that CBI was adopted to avoid possible disputes between political parties as a central bank is seen as a provider of information. Many economists have expressed their opinion on the spread of CBI; others have linked it to a way of avoiding the blame of political failure by some governmental parties (Miller, G. 1998, White 1994). Others have linked it to the infrequent changes of the government (de Haan and vant Hag, 1995). That is, central bank independence in many cases was adopted after periods of high inflation in order to reduce it, due to the inflation targeting function a central bank is capable of pursuing. It can also be associated with the attraction of foreign investment and hence economic growth as a consequence of the targets set and the autonomy with which the bank can then operate (Maxfield, 1997). In countries within the European Union, CBI is a perquisite following the Maastricht Treaty (1992) for adopting the euro currency. Overall and according to Folder (2005), independence has always been related to the adoption of anti-inflationary measures for pursuing monetary policy, but its explanation lies within the sociology of the financial elites and the politics legitimizing their policy preferences. The reasons behind achieving price stability through gaining central bank independence, Cukierman (1996) explains are several and include; the breakdown of other institutions like the European Monetary System (EMS) that had been responsible for maintaining price stability which is considered as the single and most significant objective of a central bank. Ilieva and Gregoriou (2005) suggest that in transition economies central bank independence has increased mainly due to the desire of such countries like e.g. Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, etc., to join the European Union and the acquis communautaire that applicant countries should adopt. As they continue to reason the addiction to CBI, they add that another incentive for CBI is the international financial institutions such as the IMF (International Monetary Fund) that require certain criteria to be met before making unconditional loans, and these criteria are feasibly met with the help of CBI. Also, countries are attracted to CBI as this will attract potential investors by improving the nations creditworthiness. Cukierman, A. (1996) analyses developments since the late 1980s to the legal independence of central banks and to its meaning; the measurement of CBI, the interaction of central banks with the government, its effect on the economy, its determinants, etc According to Cukierman, the trend towards CBI is due to a quest for price stability which is due to the following two reasons: First, following the stagflation of the seventies and the adverse economic performance of some high inflation countries, in Latin America and elsewhere, conventional wisdom concerning inflation and real growth has changed. Whereas during the sixties the accepted view was in line with Keynesian dogma, that some inflation is good for growth, during the eighties and nineties became that inflation and the associate uncertainties retard growth. (1996; 3) The good economic performance of Japan and Germany, countries with already low inflation added more value to the above concept. Second, the rapid growth and internationalization of capital markets raised the importance of price stability as governments and private investors sought to enhance their access to broadening world financial markets. (1996; 3) 2.2 Types of Central Bank Independence Independence with regards to central banking can be categorized into different groups, depending on the degree of freedom and the subject from which the central bank becomes independent. The major types of independence are; Legal independence, where the bank is partly accountable to the government and legislation provides a framework within which the central bank and the government cooperate on certain issues. This form of independence varies significantly among countries as it depends on how strong in the law in each country and the degree to which it is followed. However, the degree of legal independence, namely LVAW, as it will be shown below, has been used by many as a major index of measuring the degree of CBI. Goal independence refers to the case where the central bank is allowed to set its own goals, e.g. price stability, money supply, inflation targeting. However in most cases under this type of independence, the bank will decide on its goals with the confirmation of the relevant governmental departments. In this way, goal independence helps avoiding conflicts among fiscal and monetary policies, and increases the level of transparency and credibility of the central bank over its goals. Operational independence is the most common form of independence and is followed by many central banks around the world, for instance, the Bank of England since 1997. It involves the government setting the banks goals e.g. a 2% level of inflation, but the central bank being free to choose the instruments e.g. interest rates, to meet the targets set by the government. Another form of independence is managerial independence, by which the central bank has the power of appointing its own stuff, set its budget, etc. This form is a necessity for the existence of the other abovementioned forms of central bank independence and is therefore granted to all central banks that can call themselves independent. 2.3 The case for central bank independence There is a huge surge towards central bank independence by both the public and the governments, in the belief that independent central banks will not only achieve low inflation rates and price stability, but will subsequently lead to long-term economic growth and development. However CBI is an issue that needs further research before determining whether it should be adopted by all countries. This depends on the economic state of the country, whether it is a developed or a developing country or even on the demand of autonomy by the political parties within the country since by granting independence the government must pass to the bank the responsibilities of e.g. controlling the interest rates, etc. over which it used to have the power. Another issue that needs to be examined before granting independence to a central bank is the political stability and the degree of uncertainty within the country. This is because in times of uncertainty and instabilities, e.g. prior to elections, the public favours CBI as an independent central bank is more objective in its role and always forward looking without ignoring the long-term effects of its decisions. The majority of the parties affected by the actions of an independent central bank, i.e. the government as well as the general public are attracted by CBI because of the greater accountability and transparency the bank is equipped with when adopting a greater degree of autonomy. Moreover, it is expected to bring lower levels of inflation and this is the main reason why people welcome CBI and the number of central banks becoming independent has been increasing over the years. The main reason behind this expectation is because a central bank generally acts in favor of the public and in addition to the fact that it becomes free from the government and any political pressures, it is in a position to avoid short-term temptations regarding low interest rates which the government usually uses prior to electoral periods, for the sake of long-term low inflation and price stability, which in combination with other exogenous factors can result in economic growth. Moreover, when a central bank gains its independence through institutional reform it becomes capable of appointing its own governor thus it moves away from political interference, and can also set an explicit inflation target. Additionally and as Carlstrom, T.C. and Fuerst, S.T. (2006) explain independence helps a central bank in constraining the behavior of fiscal authorities. That is, it can prevent people and especially the government following fiscal policy from acting in their short-term best interests, recognizing that any actions taken in the short-term e.g. lowering the interest rates to attract investments, may become undesirable in the long-term, e.g. rising inflation levels as with higher demand from low interest rates, the prices will likely increase. In this way, CBI also prevents the fiscal authorities from inflating the short-term for delivering e.g. favorable exchange rates. Hence, monetary policy can run in a more credible way and following the targets set, markets w ill know what to expect thus shocks will be limited. However an independent central bank is also likely in extreme cases to bring so low levels of inflation that can be harmful to the economy. According to Epstein, G. (2007), the 3.5% drop in inflation levels by countries adopting an inflation-targeting monetary policy (IMF, 2006) is questionable as to whether this decline will improve economic growth. Explicitly, if the inflation level of a country is already low and the central bank adopts an inflation-targeting monetary policy then the resulting lower inflation level might prove dangerous to the economy by generating economic cycles. Cukierman (1996) has developed two separate approaches for reasoning the urge towards central bank independence and explaining the benefits that can be enjoyed from independence. These include; the theoretical approach according to which in the short-run monetary policy can be conducted in such a way that it allows for some inflation so that it can achieve employment, high economic activity and low interest rates. Hence, policy makers can expect some degree of inflation which they will present in the form of nominal wage and capital market contracts. In this way however, policy makers will have to keep inflation at a level that would balance the real equilibrium if they had been committed to zero-inflation. As a result of this discretionary use of monetary policy, this is subject to inflationary bias, and this bias can only be minimised if monetary policy is delegated to an independent central bank because only this institution is free to choose how to operate monetary policy and takes interest mostly if not only to price stability. And the empirical approach by which the case of CBI lies on empirical evidence showing that countries with an independent central bank have lower inflation rates and higher growth rates per capita output. An example of such a country is New Zealand: 2.3.1 The case of New Zealand New Zealand is a country whose central bank managed to drop the inflation level after being granted with greater independence. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand was granted independence in 1989 following the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act of 1989 and had therefore established an explicit inflation target. The result was to reduce inflation levels from 7.6% during the years 1955-1988 from when the reserve bank was not independent, down to just 2.7%, after becoming independent, during the period 1989-2000. The latter rate is now considered one of the lowest among industrialized countries. It is obvious that among all OPEC countries, the central bank of New Zealand managed to achieve the lowest inflation rate, especially during the 1990s. What happened during the period of the inflation reduction was that the reserve bank of New Zealand went through a reform that resulted in it being granted with independence and a greater degree of autonomy, leading to low inflation. Specifically, prior to 1989 it used to be an arm of the government. Monetary policy used to be subject to the ministry of finance and therefore the government. As a result, the level of independence was one of the lowest among industrialized countries, while the level of inflation was of the highest. Even then, the relationship between central bank independence was negative, even though the results were the reverse of what is considered optimum, i.e. greater independence, lower inflation. In 1989, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act was passed by law. This act codifies inflation targeting and gives more autonomy to the countrys central bank in order to meet its objectives. According to the Act the central banks primary function is: to formulate and implement monetary policy directed to the economic objective of achieving and maintaining stability in the general level of prices. (Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act, 1989 as quoted in Carlstrom T.C. and Fuerst, S.T., 2006, p.3). The impact of the Act on New Zealands economy and specifically the Reserve Banks autonomy can be seen in figure 2 below, which compares the degree of independence across different time periods and among different countries. The findings of the New Zealand case show that if the country had adopted independence earlier then its average inflation rate would be 3.4% rather than 7.6% that it actually used to be, assuming all other things being equal. Following this assumption, CBI itself would be sufficient to reduce worldwide inflation levels from 5.6% down to 3.8%. Despite the considerable drop in New Zealands inflation rate it is still questionable whether this drop was caused solely by CBI, and it is difficult, if not impossible, to quantify by how much the inflation reduction was due to CBI. Firm conclusions cannot be made yet since the data used in this case is of limited sample size and comparisons would therefore be insufficient. What is true is that the relationship between CBI and inflation is similar across time. Any changes to the strength of this relationship are mostly due to macroeconomic and other factors such as the state of the economy, the state of the government, e.g. democracy, etc. and others that will be explained later in this paper. 3. Measuring Central Bank Independence The degree of CBI for each central bank varies according to the state of each country and to compliance with the law. As Cukierman explains, in developing countries where compliance with the law is poor, a suitable proxy for CBI would be the turnover of central bank governors, whereas in industrialised countries such a proxy would be legal independence. Generally, when the appropriate index of independence is used, the results indicate an inverse relationship between CBI and inflation. However, care should be taken not to mistake legal independence with actual independence, as legal independence is necessary but does not guarantee actual independence; legal independence is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for a truly independent CB. (Cukierman, A., 2001; 7). Exceptions exist, like developed countries, where legal independence seems to be a good proxy because law is highly complied. For a clearer picture of the effectiveness of CBI on the economy, it is preferred that some variables that make up the CBI index are used in combination, or that some indices are used only for a specific purpose. For instance, legal independence is a good proxy for actual independence in developed countries rather than in developing ones. 3.1 The Cukierman Index of CBI The method that will be used the most in this paper to measure the degree of central bank independence and its relationship with inflation will be Cukierman Index (1992), the most widely accepted and used index for this purpose. Initially, the exact definition of the Cukierman Index according to Siklos, P. (1992; 65) is: An indicator of the degree of autonomy enjoyed by several central banks. Cukierman Index to demonstrate graphically the measures of CBI and inflation during two different decades, namely the 1980s and the 1990s: As can be seen in the above graphs during the 1980s even though CBI was not common across countries, there was a negative relationship between CBI and inflation level. This means that the greater the level of independence of a central bank, the lower the level of inflation within the particular country. It is thus obvious that the correlation between CBI and inflation is negative, whereas the errors overall are not fitted closely on the regression line. We should note however that the decade of 1980s was before central banks especially those within industrialized countries underwent major reforms in their statutes which then allowed them a greater degree of autonomy. During the 1990s as Siklos, P. (2002) explains, most central banks went through a reform, as there was a trend towards CBI. As a result the overall degree of CBI increased and all index values were revised upwards, the government granting more autonomy to central banks, in the belief that greater independence would just be adequate for lowering the level of inflation. However, the relationship between CBI and inflation during the 1990s turned out to be the reverse of that of the previous decade. That is, the correlation between CBI-inflation now became weaker but positive since the regression line on the scatter gram in figure 3b has an upward slope, meaning that inflation increases with the degree of independence. It is hard to explain what was wrong with the findings of the 1990s that caused the correlation to be positive, however one might argue that CBI increased for all countries during the 1990s and so it also reflects the inflation performance of the previous decade, although the more independent central banks have delivered lower inflation levels in the 1980s. Furthermore, the Cukierman Index used is believed to contain some inaccuracies concerning the measurements of the degree on independence and thereafter the relationship of that with inflation because it was extended from the 1980s towards the 1990s in a different way than the one initially specified. For this reason more tests will be carried out to explain and compare the effectiveness of measuring CBI using the Cukierman Index in contrast to other indices developed for the same purpose, for instance Alesina and Summers Index. The Cukierman Index will also be used to test the effect of CBI on inflation in transition economies, based on Ilieva and Gregoriou (2005) paper regarding inflation performance, i.e. average inflation and inflation variance, and CBI in transition economies during the period 1991-2003. 3.2 The determinants of the CBI index The degree of independence varies across countries. This is not only due to factors such as the type of independence of each bank, although the most common is operational independence, the degree of law compliance in each country, and tradition, but some other systematic factors as well. Such factors are described and categorized by Cukierman, who presents some hypotheses on these factors: Hypotheses about the determinants of CBI Initially, it is widely accepted that any form of inflationary bias raises the independence of central banks to the degree that politicians wish to grant to the CB. The main idea behind this concept is that the benefits of delegating monetary policy to an independent central bank will be higher when inflation bias is higher in instances of e.g. employment reaction to inflation shocks. This delegation according to Cukierman helps in preventing the competing political party from taking on activities not favoured by the government. Secondly, Cukierman et al (1992, 2001) make the hypothesis that: the wider are the financial markets and the more elastic the supply of funds to government with respect to the interest rate, the more likely is the CB to be independent. (2001; 19). Additionally, Maxfield (1995) supports that political authorities favour CBI where there is need for funds. When this need is high as he explains, the government delegates more authority to the central bank in order to signal the nations creditworthiness. Finally, the cases of countries that have experienced extremely high levels of inflation in the past, like Germany, Austria, and Brazil, show that such countries are more likely to delegate independence to a central bank so that politicians do not interfere with monetary policy. 3.3 The measurement of the CBI Index Due to the widespread concept that the degree of independence of a nations central bank plays a crucial role upon the policy actions and inflation, Cukierman (1992) presents an analysis of the effects of CBI on inflation and provides various indicators of CBI. However, as he explains, the degree of CBI is determined by several factors from legal to cultural some of which are difficult to measure and quantify, therefore the impact of CBI on inflation varies among countries and there is a certain degree of uncertainty about the level of CBI. As a result, the measurement and the creation of an index of CBI have been based on legal independence, as the degree of CBI also depends on the degree of independence granted to the bank by the law. Despite the variations in the degree of CBI, it can be deduced that a low degree of CBI is linked with higher levels of inflation and inflation variability, while the level of credibility of a central bank with a low degree of CBI will be lower. Cukierman presents three different sets of indicators of CBI; a proxy for legal independence and proxies for the deviations of actual from legal independence. Independence measured under these proxies is limited specifically to the Central banks ability to meet a single objective; price stability. The reason for using several proxies in measuring CBI is because each proxy is a noisy indicator that captures a somewhat different aspect of CB independence (Cukierman, 1992; 370), so using a combination of them reduces this noisiness of the overall measure 3.3.1 Measuring and Coding Legal Central Bank Independence Using a proxy of legal independence is vital in making comparisons with previous studies on the impact of CBI on economic issues because all existing attempts on the features of an independent central bank rely on the banks legal independence. Cukierman presents the indices of legal aspects of CBI by separating into four groups the variables which make for a legally independent central bank. These groups are: Chief executive officer: CEO Policy formulation: PF Final Objectives: OBJ Limitations on lending: LLand codes them by the degree of independence of each group for the central bank of each of the countries included in the study. The main assumptions made are; the central banks whose single objective is price stability are considered to be more independent, so are central banks with stricter limitations on lending from the CB. The coding involves sixteen different variables in a scale from 0 (least independence) to 1 (maximum independence), during the time period 1950-1989, separated into four different decades. Due to the narrow definition of each of the variables used and the consequent lack of precision and multicollinearity problems that may arise, these variables are aggregated into eight legal variables by just calculating the unweighted mean of the codings used. Furthermore, it is necessary to have an additional single index of legal independence for each country to assess the aggregate legal independence of the CB. This index can have two alternatives, the LVAU and the LVAW, that are computed by calculating the average of the codings of the first eight variables as described above. Table 1 in Appendix A shows the ranking of the countries according to the legal independence of their central banks as measured by the LVAU during the eighties decade. The LVAW would also give a similar picture. Looking at the table of results one can see that among the seven most highly-ranked countries four are developed (Switzerland, West Germany, Austria and U.S.), while among the seven least-ranked countries four are less developed (Morocco, Panama, Yugoslavia and Poland). Generally, the top 10% of the rankings is comprised of developed countries, whereas the bottom 10% is concentrated with less developed countries. One should also note that there had been no hyperinflation experienced by developed countries during the 1980s, while some of the Latin America countries have, e.g. Brazil and Bolivia with a rate of 230%. This according to Cukierman may suggest that legal CBI may be neither necessary nor sufficient for low inflation. (1992; 382). 3.3.2 The turnover rate of Central Bank governors as a proxy for actual independence As already explained, the legal status of the central bank is just one of the several determinants of actual CBI. There is no clear systematic indicator of actual CBI, but Cukierman (1992) presents two sets of such indicators. One is based on the actual turnover rate of the central banks governor, and the other is based on the answers given to a questionnaire on CBI. Table 2 in Appendix B shows the CB governors turnover rates for the period 1980-1989. It is assumed that the lower the turnover rate the higher the degree of actual independence. Although the results are chronologically old, it is obvious that turnover rates in less developed countries occupy a range that has never been experienced by developed countries. It is indicative that more than half of the less developed countries have a turnover rate higher than the maximum of the rate of developed countries. It is clear that less developed countries experience higher inflation rates, on the grounds of lower actual CBI. On the other hand, low turnover does not necessarily imply a high level of CB independence on the grounds that a relatively subservient governor will tend to stay in office longer than a governor who stands up to the executive branch. (Cukierman, 1992; 385) Critically assessing the results, since the maximum turnover rate for developed countries is 0.2 (.e. five years) suggests that the turnover proxy may not be effective proxies for actual CBI for the sample of developed countries, whereas this proxy can be considered indicative for the sample of developing countries since these have turnover rates exceeding 0.2. 3.3.3 Central Bank Independence from answers to a questionnaire Another aspect of characterizing CBI is the questionnaire. Under this method, answers were obtained from qualified central bankers from twenty-four countries during the period 1980-1989. The main questions asked covered the issues of; legal independence, final monetary policy objectives, monetary policy instruments, actual independence and its divergence from the law and intermediate targets and their indicators. In coding the variables of the questionnaire, the bank is assumed to be more independent, all other things being equal, if the following hold; the term of office of the CB governor is longer than that of the government, limitations exist on lending from the CB which the government is in no position of altering, and in cases where stock targets exist because these mean that the CB is more free to meet its price stability target. Table 3 in Appendix C shows the ranking of central banks by aggregate indices of independence according to questionnaire responses. The aggregate indices of QVAU and QVAW reflect the law and the way it is implemented in practice respectively, as well as important information about actual independence, and are very similar (à ?=0.99). The rankings agree to earlier studies that central banks of developed countries are more independent. However, the median of QVAU for developed countries, that is 0.6 for Britain and Lebanon, is greater than the median for less developed countries, that is 0.49 for Uruguay, and this contradicts the above findings for legal independence using the LVAU. When measuring the degree of CBI it should be taken into account that the measures used above fail to quantify all the aspects of CBI as some are difficult to quantify. Such aspects are the quality of the banks research department and its standing in comparison to other economic research institutions within the public sector (Cukierman, 1992). Independence is generally higher in countries with highly-developed financial markets according to Cukierman because the supervision of financial institutions is under the authority of the CB, so the larger the market the more wide the span of the CBs authority. 4. Central Bank Independence and Inflation Targeting In this section the impact of central bank independence on inflation, inflation variability and the economy overall is analyzed using a model to test whether CBI can actually lower inflation, and comparing the effects of CBI by using both the Cukierman and the Alesina indices of CBI. Additionally, the costs of achieving lower inflation through central bank independence are also explained. MacCallum, B. (1995) believes that it is strong will that is necessary for proper policy behaviour by central banks, not rules and regulations. A policy maker, i.e. a central banker in this case should act immediately to an inflation shock to restore the problem without letting any sp

Developing and Implementing Change :: Business, Change

Change also known as innovation means to alter or to be different. It is not a new concept. According to Patronis Jones (2009, p.168) and Harris (2002, p.145), â€Å"change is the only constant† whereby it is an important part of an organisation and happens all the time. Without change, improvement will not happen. In the healthcare industry for example, without change, nurses will still be trained in hospitals (Anderson, 2005). Change can be either planned or unplanned. Unplanned change occurs suddenly due to specific circumstances whereas planned change is a longer process that involves planning to achieve a specific goal (Patronis Jones, 2009). In addition, change may be due to internal or external forces. Internal forces are factors within the organisation such as organisational values, beliefs and culture whereas external forces are factors that come from outside the organisation such as social factors, economic factors and legislations (Patronis Jones, 2009). Change can also be personal or organisational. However, according to Harris (2002) and Wainwright (2008), organisational change mainly involves personal change. This means that change always involve people who plan, implement and evaluate changes individually or within a team (Harris, 2002). Three types of change have been identified within organisations: transitional, transformational and developmental. Transitional change is the most common type of change; it is driven by management and involves small continuous changes in people, structure, procedures or technology to improve organisational performance (Gilley, Gilley & McMillan, 2009). Transformational change is driven by leaders and is competitive, â€Å"fundamental and radical† involving a change of culture and value system; for example the merging of two organisations (Harris, 2002; Gilley, Gilley & McMillan, 2009, p.76). Developmental change on the other hand involves a continuous dynamic change aiming at avoiding radical changes (Gilley, Gilley & McMillan, 2009). According to Gilley, Dixon & Gilley (2008, p.154), â€Å"transformational change is the key to realising innovation in an organisation.† For organisations to succeed and be competitive, they must support and implement continuous and transformational change (Gilley, Gilley & McMillan, 2009; Gilley, Dixon, & Gilley, 2008). The aim of the health industry is to provide quality patient centered care. However, the healthcare industry is facing an aging population and workforce. Skills and resources to manage complex and chronic illnesses are required. In addition, consumers are more educated about the healthcare system and want to manage their own health (Reithmeier, 2009). Developing and Implementing Change :: Business, Change Change also known as innovation means to alter or to be different. It is not a new concept. According to Patronis Jones (2009, p.168) and Harris (2002, p.145), â€Å"change is the only constant† whereby it is an important part of an organisation and happens all the time. Without change, improvement will not happen. In the healthcare industry for example, without change, nurses will still be trained in hospitals (Anderson, 2005). Change can be either planned or unplanned. Unplanned change occurs suddenly due to specific circumstances whereas planned change is a longer process that involves planning to achieve a specific goal (Patronis Jones, 2009). In addition, change may be due to internal or external forces. Internal forces are factors within the organisation such as organisational values, beliefs and culture whereas external forces are factors that come from outside the organisation such as social factors, economic factors and legislations (Patronis Jones, 2009). Change can also be personal or organisational. However, according to Harris (2002) and Wainwright (2008), organisational change mainly involves personal change. This means that change always involve people who plan, implement and evaluate changes individually or within a team (Harris, 2002). Three types of change have been identified within organisations: transitional, transformational and developmental. Transitional change is the most common type of change; it is driven by management and involves small continuous changes in people, structure, procedures or technology to improve organisational performance (Gilley, Gilley & McMillan, 2009). Transformational change is driven by leaders and is competitive, â€Å"fundamental and radical† involving a change of culture and value system; for example the merging of two organisations (Harris, 2002; Gilley, Gilley & McMillan, 2009, p.76). Developmental change on the other hand involves a continuous dynamic change aiming at avoiding radical changes (Gilley, Gilley & McMillan, 2009). According to Gilley, Dixon & Gilley (2008, p.154), â€Å"transformational change is the key to realising innovation in an organisation.† For organisations to succeed and be competitive, they must support and implement continuous and transformational change (Gilley, Gilley & McMillan, 2009; Gilley, Dixon, & Gilley, 2008). The aim of the health industry is to provide quality patient centered care. However, the healthcare industry is facing an aging population and workforce. Skills and resources to manage complex and chronic illnesses are required. In addition, consumers are more educated about the healthcare system and want to manage their own health (Reithmeier, 2009).

Export data into external source (m3) Essay

Explain the Impact of Organisational Policies on the Troubleshooting and Repair Process (P1) Referring to the policies related to the College’s network. Produce an audio recording for the Network manager to explain the impact of their organisational policies on the troubleshooting and repair process. Introduction In this documents, I am going to be explaining the impact of organisational policies on the troubleshooting and repair process, I am going to be talking about the organisational policies, such as considerations e.g. security, costs, systems downtime, disruption, resource allocation, prioritisation, contractual requirements, trend analysis, escalation procedures, documentation, reporting, contractual legal issues. Organisational Policies An organisational policy is expected to do many things. Primarily it should protect people and information, as well as set the rules for expected behaviour by users, system administrators, management and security personnel. It should also authorise relevant personnel to monitor, probe, investigate, define and authorise the consequences of violations, in addition to defining the company’s baseline stance on security. This can help minimise risk and help track compliance with appropriate regulations. Security This policy is mainly responsible for making sure that all the security detail such as password and user accounts are secure so you have to make sure that you are the only person that uses the account. IT systems Acceptable usage policy requires from users to log off the computer as inappropriate people could get the access to the data that they shouldn’t. The user also shouldn’t install the unauthorized software as this could lead to the issues such as making the equipment unusable by affecting it performance. The users also have to make sure that the equipment is secure during the use of it and after. The users within college are not allowed to connect they own device to the college network if they don’t get authorization from the IT Manager. Costs In term of costs the members of the staff has to make sure that they examine all the purchasing and introduce the environmental criteria to make sure that the equipment meets all the requirements and condition. They are also required to research on the equipment that they are purchasing to make sure that there is no alternatives with are better or cheaper. They also have to encourage the use of recycled paper to make sure that people don’t use it in inappropriate reasons that are not associated with the course as they are spending the college money. If the potential user with in this case is the student brake the equipment the staff have to make sure that it was reported and the person that did it will have to pay back the money for it. Systems Downtime System downtime is usually affected by many issues but they all can be prevented if the right procedures have been taken and the staffs fallow all the legislations. In this case people have to make sure that they have the right equipment for example server. They also should make regular backups so student and teachers work don’t get lost. The regular maintainer should be taken at the end of each week. System downtime could cause a lot of damage as if the system would be down user wouldn’t be able to perform they daily routine. Disruption Disruption is when something unexpected happened and person responsible for that area is not preparing for it. Organization such as College should have plan for everything so in case that something happen they have solution to repair it and prevents it from happening. For example if users lose they work organization should back them up. In order to back the files up they would have to be prepare for this to happen. Resource Allocation All the resources should be right allocated. This mean that there shouldn’t be too much of resources for one place for example you cannot add too much of the paper for the printer as the printer could damage the paper if there are too many resources than it should be the company could lose a lot of money as they might spend money on the unimportant resources. Resources should be well balanced so if the resources are not needed they shouldn’t been used. Prioritisation The company should prioritize some of the aspect when performing repair as they might be more important and they should be repaired first. For example if network is down and at the same time printer is not working. The person that perform repair should concentrate on repairing network instead of printer as without network printer would be useless. Contractual Requirements In a company, the support team staff would be required to work shifts that will provide coverage for the employees when the offices are officially opened, they will also need to provide extra time in the evening and weekends, where they will carry out the essential maintenance which may have to involve some downtime. The hours that an employee will have to work will be set out for them in what is called an employment contract. They will be limited by the EU legislation and some other regulations such as working time regulations, which will provide the basic right and protections such as: A worker can be required to work at most an average of 48 hours a week (though workers can choose to work more if they want to). For night workers there is a limit of an average of 8 hours worked in 24. Night workers are entitled to receive free health assessments. All staff are entitled to 11 hours of rest a day and to one day off each week. When the working day is longer than 6 hours, workers must have an in-work rest break. Workers are entitled to 4 weeks of paid leave per year. These protections may or may not be in place. You should check your contract to find out any special conditions of service before signing. Trend Analysis The records that are kept of incidents and how these are dealt with can provide useful data how successfully the support team are running, so an organisational policy will decide the frequency of analysis and of data and exactly what type of data has to be recorded by the IT supporting team. Trends can then be identified which will then help with the formulation of the plans to provide better and more reliable hardware and software package, it may then also be used to target a form of training for the users who will need them the most. Trend analysis can then also be used to re-allocate budgets and resources to identify the hotspots. Escalation Procedures An escalation process in different support establishments vary depending on the type of service that they have. In a technical support group, this involves setting up thresholds for certain issues to be addressed at certain levels. Typically it is a tiered setup. For example, Tier 1 can handle issues that can be easily resolved by just a phone call and when the Tier1 representative feels that the issue cannot be resolved at his level (if for example the problem cannot be resolved by their team alone and needs to be addressed by other support teams/departments with higher level of authority) it is then escalated or moved to the next higher team. This way the issues are segregated depending on their severity and type of resolution. Documentation The procedures of documentation vary from one sector, or one type, to another. In general, these may involve document drafting, formatting, submitting, reviewing, approving, distributing, reposting and tracking, etc., and are convened by associated SOPs in a regulatory industry. Since a key step in the process management journey is the documentation of current processes and any exceptions to those processes, this article explores how to create a template for your process documentation guide. A template makes the process of documenting your processes repeatable. Repeatable is the word to remember here primary aspects of a process documentation guide should be easily duplicated and reused to create additional guides after the first process has been documented. This repeatability feature makes it less painful to create your documentation as you move through all the processes in an organization. It also provides readers with a common format to follow as they research or review processes within your organization. Reporting Reporting may seem like a simple exercise in transparency but it is more than that. In fact, it gives management an additional opportunity for improvement, through readers’ reactions, criticisms and suggestions. Considering stakeholder views also helps to shape strategy, goals and objectives. All the inputs from direct stakeholders should be carefully reviewed as part of a management learning process to adapt and fine-tune the company’s sustainable development objectives. Contractual Legal Issues Regardless of whether you use an agency or not, you will require some  knowledge of contract law and the ability to negotiate a suitable agreement. IR35 should be at the forefront of your mind throughout this process if you are to keep as much as possible of your pay packet out of the clutches of the taxman. On the most basic level, any agreement reached with a client must make clear that you are a contractor and not an employee. This distinction should be clear in both the contract and your modus operandi. Primarily, your contract should define exactly what you are agreeing to do for the client. In contrast to an employee, whose work may not be defined at all in the contract, you must make sure that the document clearly lays out the service or services that you are to provide. Conclusion So in conclusion, this document has been explaining the impact of organisational policies on the troubleshooting and repair process, I am going to be talking about the organisational policies, such as considerations e.g. security, costs, systems downtime, disruption, resource allocation, prioritisation, contractual requirements, trend analysis, escalation procedures, documentation, reporting, contractual legal issues. Hopefully, this would help an organisation in the process of troubleshooting and repair.

Miracle of Life

Contents Page Lesson Section Ideal setting for babys birth| 19,20| 6 | 2| Diet for a 4 year old (Winter and Summer)| | 7 | 2| Child with feeding problems| | 7 | 2| Teacher-parent relationship| | 8| 2| Involving parents in school life| | 8| 2| Basic psychological needs| | 9| 2| How teaches can provide for psychological needs| | 9| 2| Intergrated whole (will, mind, body and spirit)| | 9| 2| Three stages of obedience| | 10| 2|How deviations manifest themselves in children| | 10| 2| Mixed ages in the learning enviroment| | 11| 2| Five different modes of learning| | 11| 2| Intergrate a handicapped child| | 11| 2| Useful development chart| | 11| 2| SECTION 2 Assignment 2 Lesson 6 1. Describe the ideal setting for a baby’s birth. (500 words) ‘Before him there is a period of life different from that which he led in the womb ‘the spiritual embryo Care of the newborn Child has two lives: Age starts when life starts from the time the child is conceived natal being lifePrenata lBeforenot enough attention PostnatalAftermost attention Maria Montessori believed not enough attention was given to pre natal life and the actual birth of the child. Trauma at birth Until the moment of birth, the baby is in a warm fluid, protected from the bright lights, sounds and drop in body temperature. We have to consider the great adaptation the baby has to make leaving the mothers womb and entering the great big world. Environment Baby’s 1st experience of breathing on his own (before via mums umbilical cord) Baby’s 1st experience of carrying his own body mass.Baby’s 1st experience to feel his sense of touch (skin, blanket etc) Baby’s 1st experience of the impact of light and sound We cannot say exactly how the baby feels by conscious awareness and memory, but we cannot assume that he is insensitive to all the factors. ‘mneme’ Recording by the unconscious memory of all the sensations experienced which influence the learning and develop ment of every individual and therefore influence the later development of the child. How sensations affect the child. What mom’s environment becomes a part of who the child becomes? Immediately after birth Maria Montessori believed experience immediately after birth are important factors in the Childs subsequent development and the importance of the mother to the child. * Ideally the child should be delivered into his mothers hands in a calm environment in a warm room that is dimly lit. * Should be left to bond with his mother immediately after birth, leaving the weighting and bathing for afterwards. * The body of the newborn is delicate. The skeleton is not fully ossified, the bones of the feet are still cartilaginous and the skull is not joined over the top of the brain. Extreme care should be taken in handling the newborn child. * Traditional attention should be given to emotion. * Childs needs are to be considered and emphasized at all times. First days of life * Initiall y not realized the child has mental needs in his first two years of life. * Maria Montessori believed in the unconscious absorbent mind (0 to 3 years) * Consider transformations, adaptions, achievements during the 1st periods of life. * Conscious absorbent mind (3 to 6 years) Good example: a child who didn’t feel love will find it hard to drive. * Active seekers in this world. Related essay: Practical Life Exercises Montessori Free EssayAlways looking for impressions to absorb. * This becomes an integral part of his personality * Children who are not allowed to grow and develop do not thrive. * A mother gives off an unnoticed force that the child is familiar with; this helps him to go threw difficult days. * The communication between mother and newborn still exist even after baby has left the womb. Lesson 7 1. Set out a diet for 1 day in winter and 1 day in summer for a 4 year old. Include a table for each day detailing the nutritional value. group| servings per day | examples| grain| 6| Rice, pasta, breads, cereals, muffins| egetable| 3| Cucumber, broccoli, carrot, cauliflower ,spinach| fruit| 2| Apple, banana, strawberry, pear, grapes, melons| dairy| 2| Milk, cheese, yoghurt, smoothie| meat| 2| Chicken, mutton, beef, beans| Fats | 1| Sugar, honey, butter, margarine, oil| Nutrient| benefit| | zinc| Essential for normal growth and physical developmentOptim al immune function| | | | | Essential fatty acids| Metabolic & structural functions| | iron| Essential for building healthy blood cells| | Vitamin B complex| Energy production and releaseImmune function and nervous system| | | | |Vitamin A| Normal visionHealthy skinSkeletal developmentTooth developmentBoost resistance to infection| | | | | | | | | | | | | | Vitamin C & E| Antioxidant vitaminsKeeps cells healthyBoost the immune system to help body resist infection| | | | | | | | Vitamin D| Increases the absorption of calcium and phosphorusVital for healthy bones and teeth| | | | | carbohydrates| Provides energy| | proteins| Materials for growth and repair| | fats| Materials for growth and repair| | Vitamins| Helps regulate body process| | minerals| Growth and repair and regulate body process| |BALANCED MEAL 5 TIMES A DAY Winter Breakfast | 30g Oats cooked with 250ml low fat milk and cinamonand 1 banana| Playtime snack| 1 small fruit yogurt1 bran muffin| lunch| Tuna mayo sandwhich ser ved with salad (lettuce, carrots, cumcumber, pineapple)| Afternoon snack| 2 wholewheat crackers and a small handful of raisins and nuts| supper| Pasta with meatballs and tamato sauce| Summer Breakfast | French toast dipped in egg and fried in butter, sprinkled with cheese and a glass of milk| Playtime snack| Fruit and nut Muesli and plain yoghurt| unch| Pasta with salmon and mushroomAnd a glass of fresh orange juice| Afternoon snack| 1 fresh fruit salad and a bran muffin| supper| Chopped steak served with rice and spinache, Corn on the cob and sweet potato| What would you do to help a child who has feeding problems? (500 words) A healthy child is active in body mind and spirit. If a child is active, developing adequately and growing at the expected rate for his age than the food refusal should be regarded as a phase of development. Being a picky eater may be normal. Toddlers are so fussy about what and how much they eat so every bite should be pure yet nourishing.It is of utmost imp ortance that your child does follow a healthy balanced diet as her brain is developing at an amazing rate. After a year of rapid growth, (first year) the average one year old triples in weight, toddlers gain weight more slowly and need less food due to a decreased appetite and a sense of security other than food. Another reason is toddlers are suddenly mobile and curious to discovery, which makes them less interested in food. Toddlers also become more independent at this stage learning they have little or more control over choices.Their taste buds are more discerning, so they know exactly what kind of food they do and don’t like. Children may also get stuck on certain food and then suddenly dislike eating them after a while. So snacking is an important part of a toddler’s diet but too many snacks in-between meal times may also play a part in the toddler not eating proper meals during breakfast, lunch or supper. Another big mistake is too many drinks during the day. Wat er is the best option. As it is essential for living but not considered as a nutrient. But has no artificial colours yet will keep the body well hydrated.By the age of 4 or 5 years children should become god eaters if parents guide them correctly during there toddler years. With good eating habits instilled children are less likely to develop eating disorders and becoming obese, and less likely to suffer diseases such as heart conditions and diabetes eating should never be a ‘battle of wills’ and early independence in feeding should be allowed and encouraged. we must bear the nutrients in mind and how we use them towards planning a meal. Bearing in mind if there are any special diets to consider. Meal timesValuable social time for family members or children in a class can get together for a common purpose so make food look attractive and fun. Learning opportunities to develop motor skills and co ordinate the use of fork and knife. Practical communication skills and deve lop social skills like table manners. Encourage children to learn responsibility by helping prepare food, laying the table and proper food hygiene, and food storage Learn where food comes from, how it keeps us healthy and grace and courtesy. Mealtimes should be social and educational. Lesson 8 1. a) Why are teacher-parent relationships so important? include 10 factors in your answer) 2. b) How can we involve parents in the life of the school? (include 10 factors in your answer) Lesson 9 1. A) What are the basic psychological needs? (500 words) We need to understand that children have different needs at different stages and levels in their development, within five vast categories namely Social Intellectual Emotional Physical Spiritual Children begin to develop and become skilled even before they are born. Discovery never stops, it continues through our childhood and adulthood. Each stage is totally unique from the next.The child has a totally different manner of thinking, different c haracteristics, and different needs and these require totally different surroundings , different opportunities, a different way of learning and even a different willing adult to help fulfill the childs needs. Periods of development are vital as children absorb very fast creating a foundation to what their future is built on. We need to learn how to guide them to strong concrete foundations for a better future. We need to realize children from all backgrounds, countries and race develop in the same basic ways. The child is in a continual state of growth and metamorphosis.Bodily or physical change The comparision of a new born is completely different from that of an adult. NEEDS| NEW-BORN| 2-3 YEAR OLD| 6 YEAR OLD| physical| Needs must be fulfilled by an adultNeed of movementRelationship with mother| Needs activityNeeds to touch and explorePurposeful activityAcknowledgment and couragespace| More energy Can challenge themselvesPerfect refine movements| emotional| Need for loveSecurityN eed to trust environmentRoutine consistency| Confident and happyCreates independenceChild deserves respectChild learns to trust| Need to feel satisfied without being acknowledged| intellectual| 0-3 years| 3-6 years| Calm, serene, peacefull| Need activities to stimulate ntellectual developmentLanguage and educationNumeracyWorking with hands| spiritual| The same needs apply to ll ages| | Will have the need for love and to express it to othersTo be respected and show respect to othersTo feel joy and happiness and to show it to othersPurpose in life. | social| | CHARACTERISTICS| NEWBORN| 2-3 YEAR OLD| 6 YEAR OLD| hysical| MovesDependent on motherMovement of limbsLarge heavy headSoft on skull| Active/balanceGetting into proportion with body for balanceWalks independentlyUse sensesUse maximum strengthSkin soft and hairy| Body streamlinedTaller and independentMore balanceBetter- co ordinationMore strength| emotional| Cries to show emotionsDependant on adultMust be lved to fulfill emotions| Shows emotion in body language| Talks to express emotions| intellectual| One year old| 6 year old| Immatates and observesRemembersAtraacted to colours, sounds and shapesShort concentraton span| Does things on their ownConscious acts taking place| spiritual| Immates you prayingSense of whats happeningPure and innocentInstinct and connectionAbsorbing suroundings| Innocent and accepting to everyoneDevelopes by interactionIs contentShows joyDevelopes independence| Shows joy and contentment feels completesharing| social| | | | Mental change 6 months| Recognizes familiar faces| 1 year | Say 1ST word| 2 years| Use of objects by trial and error. Can use names. Knows difference between one and many.Understands simple language| 2 years +| Understands more words than usedKnows own genderWill try blocks and shapesImagination developes| 3 years| Knows own age in yearsKnows difference between big and smallCan judge depth and height| 4 years| Speaks more fluent using many wordsKnows yesterday , t oday and tomorrowUnderstands higher, longer, heavierTries to reason but gets confussed| 5 years| Can see and judge objects wellCan count well May lean to readMay learn to write| b) What can us as teachers do to provide for these psychological needs? (500 words) the environment most suited to meet his needs he work opportunities most suitable to his needs to learn in a way most suitable to his needs the adult most suitable to his needs surroundings that best suit the child 0-3 years home enviroment| | 3-6 year pre school enviroment| Safe stimulating environmentLoving communication with all the childrenCleanHappy and friendlyFreedom and spacecomfortable| | Safe and cleanRoom for playStimulating purposefull gamesBright and cheerful surroundingsCalm and peacefulChild friendlyFree choiceVertical groupingSocial awareness| Emotional and spiritual needs| | newborn| toddler| |LoveCareConsistencySafetySecuritynaturing| TrustSpaceFriendly safe enviroment| | Opportunities the child needs| Type of adult best suited to the child| | Newborn and toddler| 3-6 year old| MoveWork with handsExploreExpress themselvesGive and receive lovePositive role modelsGiven choices| ResponsibleMatureLovingPatientTrustworthyHappy/ joyfullVigilant to needsCalmrespectfull| Positive role modelStimulatingCreativeEducationalAdapt to different needsSpontaneousReliable| Emotional changes happy| When they get food or something they wantor when seeing their mother again after being away from her for a while. Sad| When they leave their parents or family or friendsOr not getting what they want| afraid| When someone shouts or loud banging noisesOr if they near an unfamiliar animal or surroundingOr even if there is a thunder storm| Children cannot easily talk about their feelings, often it is because they donot have the right words to express themselves. By helping them to learn words we would help them to talk about there feelings. It is also important to observe a childs behaviour to understand what the child is feeling. it is very important we listen to the child so we can understand what he is trying to inform us.By listening to what a child is feeling it gives the child a sense of respect . by listening to them we will encourage them to express what they feelings more often. In this way it will help build the childs confidence as they will be more aware. It will also be a great example teaching them to also be willing and compassionate in listening to other peoples feelings. We need to listen to what the child is feeling. If it is fear we need to help them not be afraid and explain the difference between real fear and anxiety. Children can express there emotions in various waysThrough songs and singing Drawings Discussion groups books puppets 2. Describe an exercise that would help the child use his own will, mind, body and spirit and contrast it with one that would not help him to function as an integrated whole. (500 to 600 words) include an explanation of your choices in your answer. Lesson 10 1. What are the three stages of obedience? Give detailed descriptions and examples. (150 words for each stage) Young children can repeatedly experience periods of spontaneous concentration on a piece of work freely chosen.They will begin to display the characteristics of a normal development for the love of work, attachment to reality, the love of silence, to work alone. Wills development Three stages in development of will. Law of work Repetition of an activity Attention polarized Degree of concentration Obvious satisfaction Independence and power to the child Law of independence self discipline as a way of life choice of his own freedom as a person point of self knowledge and self possession artistic use of his own talent accountable for his own actions confinement within the truth of actuality ower of attention c)power to obey this power is a natural observation ‘shows itself’ impulsively and unexpected after the procedure of maturity 2. Discuss ho w deviations in children manifest themselves. (500 words)-That Secret of childhood. What is meant by the term deviations Behaiour commonly seen in children that is the result of some obstacle to normal development. Such behaviour ( serious or not) may be understood as negative. (timidity, destructiveness, untidiness, disobedience,, greed, egoism or positive. ( passive child) What is a single factor resulting in such deviationsThe child s unable to develop according to his inner psychic guide due o a hostile unsatisfactory environment encounted during those formative years of the unconscious absorant mind. Lesson 11 1. What is the main key for being able to mix all types and ages of children in the learning environment? (150 words) 2. What are the five different modes of learning? State the 5 different modes of learning with a short explanation of each mode, to show your understanding. Development of movement Devlopeent of language Development of independence Development of freedom P rincipals revealed through the childs development Imagine that you wish to integrate a handicapped child. Describe what you would be aware of and how you would help. (400 to 500 words) include in your answer the physical environment, the other children and the spiritual preparation of the directress. Ikraam, a brainy lad that’s full of passion for life decides a wheelchair will not hold him back. Despite his survival on a manual wheelchair a VP shunt and his renal treatment, Ikraam wants to attend school and have fun with friends like any other four year old. At 1st the challenge seemed far fetched but on noticing the little boys will I asked the mum if I could spend some time with Ikraam.Assessing the child was paramount as I realized his needs where special. I was amazed as his personality and how quick a trust was built. His potential was exploding with ideas. His mobility was beyond words. Like everything he lst in his legs where made up for in his mind and speech. I noti ced his well nourished body bulge to one side. He had absolutely no movements in his lower limbs. When I put him on the carpet he abled himself to sit independently balancing on one hand. He walked around pulling his bottoms to where he wanted to be. He had ability and a strong sense of personal dignity.This child could not be deprived of a Montessori environment. I arranged he be sent him to school with a care taker to ensure his safety at all times and decided to take it a step at a time. Fortunately very minor adjustments had to be made with regard to ramps etc. but we became more observant of pick up and drop of. And made parents more aware of Ihram’s needs The other children were amazing around Ikraam. They were always curious and willing to accommodate for his needs. A lot of mystery entered their little minds as in to why cant this boy walk and run. Why is he in a wheelchair?They befriended him just like every other child but they wanted to know why. So we kindly arran ged for the mum to explain Ikraam's disability and how they could help him to help himself. All the tables and chairs were child sized and Ikraam insisted on sitting on a chair like every other child. I realized he knew what’s best for himself but it was not safe enough for him to be sitting alone. An idea popped in my head, I had an organza runner over the display table. I had it washed and ready for the next day. Time to be in his chair I tied it several times around his entire upper body and chair.And it worked like a dream. That’s when I realized Spiritually I had to be very positive and devoted to my task. I also had to bear in mind every child is special and carried the same right as Ikraam. I needed to trust Ikraam to the freedom of choice. Trust the children to treating him equally and helping when he needed it and to trust myself in being a guide and trusting and observing the outcome. 3. Useful development chart Imagine a child with a certain disability and f ill in the chart as you would expect to find him in attainment in the early development stages. Fill this n on the chart provided on pg 36 of the manual. The chart can be copied manually or photocopied for submission. This should be a practical question and we recommend that the learner observes such a child before filling in the chart. Useful development chart Name: Ikraam JeewaDate:17 February 2012 Address: 50 Tagore Drive Roshnee Gross motor| success| Some success| No success or very little| Balance (left, right of own body)| | x| | Laterality and direction| x| | | Co-ordination (jumping etc. )| | | x| Body image (going round and threw objects)| | x| | Rhythmic movement| | x| | | | | Fine motor| | | | Co-ordination of fingers and other small muscles| | x| | | | | | Visual motor and perception| | | | Visual regognition| x| | | Visual discrimination| x| | | Visual memory| x| | | | | | | Auditory-motor perception| | | | Recognition of sounds| x| | | Discrimination of sounds| x| | | Auditory memory| x| | | | | | | Communication| | | | Listening ability| x| | | Understanding| x| | | Good vocabulary| x| | | Use of grammar correctly| x| | | | | | | Concept formation| | | | Matching| x| | | Sorting| x| | | Making associations| x| | | Making relationships| x| | |Understanding of ‘same’ or ‘different’| x| | | SECTION 3 Lesson 12 1. a) What are the reasons for these exercises? Your answer must include comments on the role and function of the teacher and why children are attracted to â€Å"practical life† exercises. (1000 words) For us as adults it’s the simple activities we perform daily that control our environment, our everyday chores where the end result is more important than the process itself. We do it because we have to as it relates to our social environment, in order for us to maintain social relationships. A means of us fitting into society.To a child ‘practical life’ is very important, because it is the s trongest link between home and school. A child from birth grows up living and watching the adults around him, so he adapts to his environment around him. Watches his parents in their everyday lives and that’s how he constructs his reality. So when he goes out and realizes everybody does what his parents do it becomes a norm in society. So to a child performing and perfecting activities must be as real as possible as part of his development. To a child the process is much more important than the end result.Maria Montessori introduced the activities of practical life because she observed their interest was familiar to activities the children observed in their own homes. They means of satisfying the child’s needs and tendencies common to all children regardless of their age, race or background. According to Dr Montessori’s observations, she discovered the 12 needs and tendencies that were noticed (secret of childhood page 119) 1) Child prefers to work instead of pl ay. 2) Child has amazing concentration. 3) Each child learns at his own pace. 4) Child has a tendency to repeat. 5) Child has a love for order. ) Child needs choice. 7) Children do not need reward or punishment. 8) Children love silence and working alone. 9) Children don’t need sweets as a distraction. 10) Children have a strong sense of personal dignity. 11) Children can read after they write. 12) Children develop positive self-discipline. 13) Practical life activities indirectly prepare children for other areas of the learning environment. Practical life as a foundation for future learning. Builds up good practical working relations and good working habits. Activities are character forming. It integrates the mind and body through the use of hands.They reason and act intellectually. The role of a directress * Service Always be available to be of service to the children. Maintain order Remove obstacles that distract learning. Act as a role model Be calm, graceful and courteou s. Follow all ground rules. Practice what is preached in the classroom. * Self preparation Constantly strive for knowledge Prepare yourself spiritually, physically, emotionally and intellectually. * 3 stages of preparation 1) Custodian and keeper of the environment Caretaker of equipment Apparatus in perfect order. Beautiful, clean and shining No parts missing 2) Behavior towards childrenEntice the child to work Protect the child from distraction Be just and fair Be consistent 3) Child’s interest in apparatus Build up child’s concentration with practical life exercises Compliment only when the child has completed Don’t offer help to a struggling child Re present activity when needed Show how to use equipment Present or re presents it in steps Guide threw materials Active at the beginning Passive afterwards Settled environment as if distress is not there Have faith in the child End of the year children normalize Mingle around children Recognize children’s motivation Freedom to choose taskMotivation from within Inner self/child to guide child The greatest sign for a distress is the ability is to say ‘The children are working now as if i don’t exist’ quote (absorbent mind) When the class becomes undisciplined look at you Sort it out and correct it. Learn from your mistake and don’t repeat it. It is the directress dedication that helps prepare, normalize and maintains, need and order in the environment. She has to make sure items are intact, complete and always maintained. Note all items needed for each activity is arranged and should readily be available in a tray or basket before you begin the activity.Practice and rehearse the presentation of a new task several times. Give facial expression, the attitude is important. A check has to be done of all teaching materials before and after every new day. Distress needs to be patient and present each activity step by step. Each activity consists of a series of indi vidual movement and threw the activity the child learns attention . Practical exercises require little or no talking. Important what you say or don’t say. All attention should be placed on action. The distress doesn’t have to check for right and wrong but she should make the child very aware of control of error.She needs to teach the child to search for inspection. Children should be able to realize error for him and that should make him target better results every time. In that way he won’t need praise or blame. She has to introduce fresh and interesting new ideas from time to time. I Analysis of movement and clarity of each distinct movement draws the child’s attention to activity. A distress should realize it’s not only the immediate aim of the material but the long term fulfilled task that matters. Recording all important writings that help in a Montessori environment. Acquire new skills constantly.Characteristics of tools and materials of prac tical life. Essential for a distress to keep in mind when creating a practical life environment. * Materials have real working direct or indirect aim. * Materials must be child sized and attractive. Materials must be adapted to child * Materials must be real to the control of error. Children can learn to use glass etc†¦ * Materials need to be in good repair order. Children won’t want to use broken items. * Materials need to be freely available for free choice. Children shouldn’t have to ask for it. It should be in their reach. Materials should be relevant and culture specific. * Activities should start from simple to complex. It helps order of the mind. * Only one set of activity should be kept per environment. Teaches children patience and sharing. * Materials should be kept in meticulous order. * Materials should be at children’s eye level b) What are the four main groups of â€Å"practical life†? There are four groups of exercises of Practical Lif e. 1) a) Elementary movements – simple easy tasks that develops skills e. g. : spooning, pouring, cutting etc b) Primilary movements -1st steps to success. To know basics E. . : to roll ; unroll a mat etc 2) Caring ; looking after the environmentIndoor ; outdoor- E. g. : dusting, sweeping, table scrubbing etc 3) Care of personal self hygiene E. g. : Dressing, combing hair, brushing teeth etc 4) Social SkillsGrace and courtesy E. g. ; whispering, greeting, speaking softly etc Lesson 13 1. How would you cater for: pg9 sec 3 a) The child’s physical needs? (250 words) b) His emotional needs? (250 words) c) His social needs? (250 words) d) Five areas of childhood development from practical life activities. e) Physical-fine and gross motor skills.Helps control movements, co-ordination, dexterity and character. f) Emotional child gains independence, self-esteem, confidence, trust and self-discipline. g) Social child learns acceptable behavior. Politeness and develops a sense of helpfulness h) Intellectual- aided by organized, orderly work, reasoning skills, organized skills and language development. i) Spiritual – Activities in practical life feeds the soul. j) k) l) 2. Select one exercise from each of the main groups of â€Å"practical life† and write out in full using the same heading as those set out for â€Å"sweeping† on page 23 of your manual.The length of each exercise will depend on the number of actions for each section. Be careful to brake down each action in detail. Elementary movementsspooning Material. Tray, Sugar Beans,(placed already in a glass bowl,) another identical empty bowl, a spoon with a long enough handle for the child to hold Presentation. 1) Invite the child ‘would you like to do some spooning today? ’ 2) Take the child to the shelf to see where it is kept 3) Name the material so the child knows in future 4) Show the child how to carry the tray from the shelf to the table 5) Sit on the right of a right handed child ) Tell the child I’ll show you how then you can get a turn’ 7) Place the 2 bowls apart from each other on the tray Slowly pick up the spoon griping between your thumb and index finger 8) Gently scoop a spoon full of beans 9) Steadily hold the filled spoon for a few seconds waiting for beans to settle 10) Slowly move the spoon to the empty bowl working from right to left 11) Gently tilt the spoon so the beans easily fall out of the spoon into the bowl 12) Pause, make eye contact with the child 3) Continue from step 8 again to step 11 until the full bowl is empty 14) Pause so the child understands all the beans are now in the empty bowl 15) Without moving the bowls gently scoop a spoon full of beans 16) Steadily hold the filled spoon for a few seconds waiting for beans to settle 17) Slowly move the spoon to the empty bowl now working from left to right 18) Gently tilt the spoon so the beans easily fall out of the spoon into the bowl 19) Pick up betw een finger and thumb every dropped bean and return to unspoiled bowl 20) Gently continue until the original bowl is filled with the beans again 21) Make sure no spilt beans on the tray or left in the bowl 22) Offer the child a turn 23) Watch and wait patiently with arms neatly on your lap 24) When the child is done from the full bowl to the empty 25) Then again from left to right 26) Encourage the child to pack the tray the same way it was found 27) Show the child how to take it back to the shelf 28) Allow the child to go back with you 9) And see where and how you placing the tray back again 30) Give the child permission to use whenever he likes. Direct Aim from one bowl to another ; how to hold a spoon Indirect Aim concentration, pencil grip, strengthen wrist Control of errorthe noise of dropping beans on the tray Age of interest2, 3 and 4 years Final social skillsHelps child eat independently Points of interestwhen the bowl gets completely empty Looking after the environmentTable Scrubbing Material. Presentation. Direct Aim Indirect Aim Control of error Age of interest Language Points of interest Care of themselvesBlowing Nose with tissues Material. Presentation. Direct Aim Indirect AimControl of error Age of interest Language Points of interest Social intercourse-How to walk without stepping on anther child’s work Material. Presentation. Direct Aim Indirect Aim Control of error Age of interest Language Points of interest a) What is the benefit to the child of the ‘Silence Game’? (500 words) b) When would you expect the child to be able to play the ‘Silence Game’? Include 5 points an expand on each one. Lesson 14 1. What is meant by the ‘Periods of Sensitivity’? List and discuss the main ‘Sensitive Period’s’(800 words) the sensitive period for co-ordinated movement the child is sensitive to movement/ activity and work through out life eak: 1 to 2 years of age to enable the child to explore his own environment and perfect himself and his personality through work with his hands. The childs life force, the horme, drives this need to develop co-ordinated movement, which is vital to thechilds life. Without movement the spirit dies and thechild has no intelligence. The sensitive period focuses the childs whole attention on leaning to walk and dvelope his balance using his hands and then to unite these functions so he can work. Movement being physical movement eg moving hands , feet, body as well as movement of the mind eg his eyes move and take in all that’s around him making the mind move. child takes +_ a year before his mobile because so much has to happen in a childs mind before he is able to rackle life at a faster pace. we therefore realize that much movement is in the mind, where the hands, mouth and eyes work as instruments of the mind for walking to take place. Nabeelas pink file 2. What happens if we starve children of the right environment for these ‘Se nsitive Periods’? (100-150 words) 3. What is the Absorbent Mind’? Include in your answer when and how the child’s mind becomes fully conscious. (500 words) 4. Write out in full the ‘3 period lesson’ that you would give your child to teach the color names ‘red’ and ‘blue’.You would f course have made sure the child is able to recognize the colors by easily pairing the color tablets first. 5. List, in your own words at least 5 characteristics of the Sensorial Didactic materials. SECTION 4 Lesson 15 1. Choose two pieces of sensorial material and describe in your own words how to present them. In your answer include the materials to be used, direct and indirect aims, control of error and age of interest. The presentation should be in sequence and consist of at least 12 actions. 2. Make a list of 12 words you could use for each of the presentations you did in question 1? 3. a) Why should the child be free to repeat the materials again and again? 500 words) c) What is the difference between ‘adult time’ and ‘child time’ and why do you think nature has made it like this? (500 words) Lesson 16 1. a) What is the small child interested in from the sounds around him (150 words) B) is there a sensitive period for language and how does it show itself? Discuss each one from birth to six years of age (800 words) c) Who is a well-known researcher on language? Explain how Maria Montessori, through her observation and insight set the stage for researchers work. (200 words) d) How does the sensorial material help language acquisition? Pg 43 manual for assistance. (500 to 800 words) 2. a) Why is movement important for reading ability? (200 words) b) What are the skills that have to be integrated to be able to read?List all 5 skills and give a brief description of each one. c) How can a mother give her child reading encouragement? (20 points) d) How can a Montessori teacher see that a child has h elp applicable to the time before beginning to read? Include at least 10 points. e) Draw the four basic symbols for writing. f) What is meant by; the explosion in writing? ’ include in your answer all the aids. List some activities in the practical life and sensorial areas that assist the child as well. (700 words) g) Describe the presentation of the sandpaper letters. Include the 3 period lessons. h) Describe the metal insets and write out the full presentation of the metal insets.Remember to include all the headings as per the manual. i) Describe the first presentation you would do with the movable alphabet? (120 words) j) How many different activities can you think of that the child might enjoy doing with the movable alphabet? Include at least 10 activities. k) When would you know the child would rather write by himself? (120 words) l) In what way would the child still use the movable alphabet? List 5 activities. SECTION 5 Lesson 17 1. Make a list of the main types of mate rials or activities which will help to develop the child’s language ability. List at least 10 points and explain each one, including practical life and sensorial activities. 2.Make a list of all the activities that the child with the ability to build up words phonetically. List at least 10 activities and explain each one. 3. Make a set of reading cards showing something new for this day and age. Refer to diagram in handbook for correct size. Use white card and write the names with a black fine line pen. Remember to write in lower case letters as per example. Your writing must be neat and consistent as possible. The materials you submit should be of a high standard, as if they were made for the classroom. Correct font used for all material. Words must always be centered on the card. a b c d e f g h I j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 4.Why is the grammar more enjoyed at this early stage than later? (200 words) 5. Make a set (6) of pink (3 letter phonetic words). Each set must consist of 6 cards with a picture and 6 cards with the corresponding word. Use pale pink and pale blue cardboard, 6cm x 6cm each. 6. Choose a short paragraph from a book that you admire. Write it out and draw in color the grammar symbols above each word. If you find this too difficult, make up a series of sentences for yourself. 7. Geography – Make the land and water forms with their names. Example and size in hand book. For the land use either brown paper, green or brown cardboard. For the sea use blue cardboard. 8.Make a land and water form definition booklet for ne form at least. Refer to manual. Page 34 9. Write out the general way of developing one particular detail in one subject by ‘classified reading’, e. g. Details of a bird. Pictures should be identical, on white cardboard and one part picked out in red each time with matching name and a definition booklet. Make the material and write out in detail how to present it. E. g. in handbook. 10. Write an acco unt of the work of the two sides of the brain. (500 to 600 words) 11. How would you prepare the environment for the children to learn a second language? (500 to 700 words)- use some of your own ideas. SECTION 6Lesson 18 1. Make a math’s chart for yourself, showing clearly the main materials for each major step in the earl arithmetic. The chart should start with the number rods, through and including the birds eye view of the decimimal system. Your answers should be in sequence. The chart should be the size that complies with the regular postage size for easy mailing. It may consist of more than one page. 2. Choose two of the following and describe how they are presented: Number rods Spindles Counters and cards Teen boards Include headings as per presentation in manual and include in your answer two exercises that come before and after this presentation. 3.What are the main characteristics of the mathematical materials as described on pages 5 to 8 inclusive. (800 words) 4. Des cribe the presentation, using the golden beads , of one of the following operations: Subtraction Multiplication Division Include headings as per presentation in manual and include in your answer 2 exercises that come before and after this presentation. 5. Describe in detail all the exercises you have been introduced so far to teach addition, state how each leads the child towards abstraction. Describe at least 5 exercises in sequence. 6. List some extra exercises one could use not using Montessori materials, to help gain an understanding of number and the various operations involved in the study of mathematics.List at least 10 activities. 7. ‘And if we look now at sensorial apparatus which is able to evoke such deep concentration, there is no doubt that this apparatus may be regarded not only as a help to exploring the environment, but also to the development of the mathematical mind. ’ 9’the absorbent mind. Chap 7) Discuss referring to unit 6, particularly pages 5-9 inclusive and mathematics which can be found in your own environment. (500 words) SECTION 7 Lesson 19FURTHER EXERCISES IN ADDITION 1. Describe the dot game. Give an example and say how it may be used. (refer to manual) 2. Describe the presentation of the addition strip board. (refer to manual) 3.How the control of error is used in the addition charts? Incl all 5 chart. Lesson 20FURTHER EXERCISES IN SUBTRACTION 1. What are the main characteristics of the subtraction strip board? ( list at least 6 characteristics) 2. Describe in detail the methods of a) decomposition b) complementary addition used in teaching subtraction what are the essential differences between the 2 methods? (page 16 of manual) lesson 21FURTHER EXERCISES IN MULTIPLICATION 1. Describe how you would teach children to multiply by 10 and 100 ( page 16 manual) 2. Explain the use f the working charts in the teaching of tables. As per exercise 1, 2 and 3 of manual. Page 19.Lesson 22FURTHER EXERCISES IN DIVISION 1. De scribe how you would use the stamp game in teaching long division. ( page 20 manual) Lesson 23THE SMALL BEAD FRAME 1. Make an outline sketch of and list the main characteristics of the small bead frame. Do this question on your own. List at least 10 points. Lesson 24FACTORS ; PRIME NUMBERS 1. Prepare a list of the prime numbers found between numbers 1 to 100. ( do this question on your own) Lesson 25LINEAR ; LIQUID MEASUREMENT 1. Devise further problems to enable children to use and apply measurement or prepare a working list of examples, to use with children, to enable them to further their knowledge of capacity.Lesson 26THE LARGE BEAD FRAME 1. Write a brief outline of how you would use the large bead frame to help children count up to 1, 000,000 (one million) (pg35) Lesson27LONG MULTIPLICATION WITH BANK GAME 1. Describe the sets of number cards used in teaching long multiplication. (pg 38) Lesson 28FRACTIONS 1. How would you introduce written symbols in the teaching of fractions g ive e. g. ( pg 41) 2. Devise a list of examples to be used to prepare children to understand the concept of equivalence of fractions. List at least 5 e. g. 3. Describe I detail the stages of preparing children to understand the division of fractions using the divided skittles. (pg 43) use own e. g. nd feel free to use sketches Lesson 29GEOMETRY 1. a) List the metal insets used to introduce geometry. (pg 45 manual) b) Show how they are used to enable children to understand equivalent, identical and similar figures. (pg46) Lesson 30MONEY 1. List the stages, materials and method you could use to teach children to use your own currency. 500 to 700 words. incl diagrams and activities. SECTION 8 Lesson 31 1. What are the ‘fine arts? ’ (200 words) 2. What fine work of literature would you enjoy reading to small children? (150 words) incl your own e. g. 3. How do you help the children to know and enjoy great work of art? ( 250 words) incl your own ideas 4.Choose a poem for the children to recite and act, and give the reason for your selection. In your answer your selection must be applicable to the age group of 3 to 6 years. 5. What are Montessori’s beliefs on fantasy for children up to the age of 6? You will find your answer in your text books. Lesson 32 1. How does a Montessori child obtain good manual dexterity and understanding for drawing? (500 words) incl in your answer practical and sensorial exercises. 2. Give an example of an activity you would use to help the child’s power of observation. (250 words) use your own e. g. 3. Describe a group handicraft activity using the materials of your choice. Incl materials, presentation, aims and an e. g.Bare in mind that your choice should allow the children to participate withut restrictions and with independence. Lesson 33 1. What is the 1st experience of rhythmic beat for the tiny baby? (30 to 50 words) 2. Which Montessori activity would help a child with Dyslexia, and why? (300 words) incl a brief description of Dyslexia. 3. Try to walk on a line carrying a pile of books. Walk carefully toe to heel and move rhythmically, if possible to music. Write a few lines about this experience. (100 words) 4. How does rhythm help a child who has great difficulty in spelling? (250 words) Lesson 34 1. Why did Dr. Montessori talk about ‘Cosmic Education? ’(1000 words) 2.How would you help the children to adapt to the environment of their own day? (500 words) include the four planes of development(Physical,spiritual,social and emotional) Lesson 35 1. On a scale of 1cm. to a year, make a time-line of your own life. Include some interesting points and highlights and visuals, if possible. Lesson 36 1. Give an idea of the materials for teaching your own religion or for the teaching of comparative religions. List at least 10 activities and explain each one with a short paragraph on the background of your religion. Lesson 37 1. What are the characteristics of a Montessori class ? List 20 characteristics with an explanation for each one. 2.What is the teacher’s relationship to the children in her class? (500 words) 3. How would you help the children towards becoming independent? (800 to 1000 words). Include all the areas of the Montessori classroom that you would like to prepare. 4. Describe the decor of a Montessori Include in your answer the outdoor and indoor, with an indoor floor plan. 5. What would be your main activities with the children during their first days at school? (250 words) Environment freedom, structure and order. reality and nature beauty and atmosphere, Montessori materials, development of community life Materials and exercises *The difficulty or the error that should be discovered by the child and an nderstanding should be isolated in every individual piece of material. The isolation makes the task easier for the child making it easy for him to figure the problem more readily. All Ebola rated one at a time not all at once. E. g. Variation in sizeColourNoise Design *the materials progress from simple to more complex design and usage. E. g. ;numerical rods ! st length 2nd numbers and length helping to understand simple addition and subtraction 3rd introduces writing numerical problems *the materials are designed to prepare the child indirectly for future learning. E. g. the indirect preparation for writing. Knob on materials to co ordinate thumb and motor actionUse of metal insets to guide movements with the ability to use a pencil Using fingers to trace of sandpaper letters helps develop a muscle memory of pattern to form letters. *the materials are concrete expressions of an idea and become more abstract. Helps the child grasp the abstract essence of the concrete material leaving the child independent without concrete evidence allowing for natural development. A solid wooden triangle is a good e. g. ;! st a solid wooden triangle is sensor ally explored. Then the separate base and sides are explored. Then di mensions are discovered. *control of error and auto education allows for the materials to be self correcting where a child can independently realize error without the help of an adult which allows the child to be in control. Teachers