Exchange Rate Risk and Impact on Foreign Trade

Exchange Rate Risk and Impact on Foreign Trade This paper uses real world application of exchange rate fluctuations, its causes and impact on the economy, risks associated with it and their management, in terms of Chinese economy to show the importance on these financial concepts and their requirement of understanding one to understand the other, all in wake of gaining he knowledge that will help in making transactions decisions that affect the economy on a global scale. Going for a bigger leap by learning to take smaller steps. Introduction The incontrovertible evidence of understanding the importance of the exchange rate fluctuation mechanism and the types and magnitude of risk, attached to the international trading affecting those who are involved in transaction across border globally deems necessary the acquisition of knowledge by those who are involved in day to day market transactions. The global economy is reliant upon the study of economic and other socio-political variable affecting the exchange rate in the international market influence the terms of trade of the trading countries and consequently inducing changes in the budget restructuring and trading quantities that are contributed to the international market by individual countries. Thus the realization of the need for this paper came upon as a research topic. This report takes into account several articles and write ups related to foreign exchange rates, their risks, exposure, and tries to plug them in with the conventional concepts of these financial instruments in order to enhance the understanding and the knowledge of exchange rate mechanism, its determinants and how it impacts any countrys economy specifically that of china. The literature support backs up the implication of the concepts applied here for the better grasp if the points that are attempting to be made noticeable. The main theme of the paper revolves around the arena of foreign exchange rates; How they impact the economy, what causes them to fluctuate, the impact of these fluctuations; How they affect the country with a changing value of currency in relative terms, a mention of the recent effects that the economies of the countries have gone into having had been affected in terms of it economy and foreign trade sector, the risk exposure associated with the fluctuating exchange rates and how does hedging help in reducing that risk. Even though the main theme would give an impression of a broad topic discussion, however we will remain confined to narrowed discussion limited within our topics only touching the subject in light of its practical application extracted from evidence presented in news articles and periodicals. This stance has been adopted, induced by the goal achieving grasp on the concepts and not on mere conventional definitions to these applicable financial-economic concepts. The paper also sees through and explains the methods of conduction of research in terms of our sources of data and our approach. Graphs and charts relevant to the topic have been provided to further clear the ideas built upon the physical evidence by analysis of these statistical data sets. Eventually reaching to base where we design a cohesive note on the findings of all the efforts put into this research and thus helping us to reach to a conclusion based upon all the facts and evidence provided in the literature review and by the statistical data charts and graphs. Literature Review This section imparts knowledge using empirical evidence that is published in newspaper journals and articles and is related to our topic of interest, to augment the understanding of the financial concepts and phenomena that take place in the economy. Following are some critical reviews of articles pertaining to topic: Exchange rate risk, determinants and its impact on foreign trade. Exchange Rate Fluctuations and its Causes. The issue of the undervalued currency of China (Renminbi).and not just undervalued the word substantial puts the emphasize on the meaning shedding curious gazes as to what might be the reason behind this, has been presented by the corporate author (Business Asia, 2007).However, the year 2007 and the year following that were expected to bring appreciation according to the author. The low valued currency helped in the exports volume increment but at the same time incurred costs in other sectors. The so expected appreciation would bring prosperity to the economy, indicating an economic growth or a path led to success. On the other hand, the appreciated currency would, by all means, even if little, impact the exporting sector negatively making the goods sold to foreign countries less cheaper and making the existence of Chinese goods in the competitive market all the more tougher (Business Asia, 2007). El-Erian, ONeill, Bergsten, Mohamed (2007), further takes the discussion forward with appreciating Chinese currency and at the same time the threat of protectionist trade measures and the falling dollar. He sheds light upon the problem of falling dollar and how it would be a problem being a constraint upon the Federal Reserve Bank to take measure against the economic down turns led by the crisis in the real estate. On the other hand, the Chinese Yuan has been allowed to appreciate modestly in the past two year from the time the article was written keeping an eye for the threat of protectionist measures (Business Asia, 2007). Already the appreciation had caused much apprehension for the Chinese; dollar falling further would be putting too much on their plate. The Depreciation of Dollar would imply further appreciation in Chinese currency which would threat the exports sector much. Nevertheless the depreciation of dollar by and large is a development for the world economy despite some negative consequences it may have on trade. And the circumstances are much more predictive for the weak dollar than the reality assumes, and it sure is likely to remain that way (El-Erian, ONeill, Bergsten, Mohamed, 2007). The important issues discussed by the corporate author diverts our attention towards the sterilization efforts, issuance of liabilities and Sino-US relation that are the main factors affecting the pace of the appreciation expected (Business Asia, 2007). The so long undervalued Chinese currencys expectation to rise was induced by the central banks intention of sterilization for the manipulation of exchange rate, however all depended upon the success of this effort. The central bank can control the exchange rate by buying or selling the currency and hence stimulation and increase or a decrease respectively in the relative supply of the currency in circulation. Furthermore in sterilizing it insulates itself from the foreign exchange operations in order to prevent potentially adverse impacts of capital inflow or outflow. Thus in order to appreciate the Chinese Renminbi against US dollar the central bank of china would buy the domestic currency and create a shortage of supply, therefore i ncreasing its value and it would sell the American dollar for the reverse effect. Hence, the Chinese currency would appreciate. (Business Asia, 2007) El-Erian (El-Erian, ONeill, Bergsten, Mohamed, 2007), taking a step further, reasoned the apprehensive condition of the Chinese, to see the falling dollar after all their efforts to keep the appreciation of their own currency modest. The threat of declining exports leading to broadening of trade balance was imminent. And to top it off the depreciating dollar only sought to be a cause for an augmentation of risk in the painstakingly controlled economy (El-Erian, ONeill, Bergsten, Mohamed, 2007). The article but also points out that despite the negative consequences of the weakening dollar on trade given the predictable circumstances of a likely depreciation, it also implies a development of world economy against US. Because depreciation of dollar would in effect mean appreciation of the currencies that it must be held against which includes all the other countries of the world. Thus from the perspective of other countries an appreciation would be taking place implying a growth affec t in their respective economies and indicating a surge of development in those countries (El-Erian, ONeill, Bergsten, Mohamed, 2007). The Negative and the Positive Impacts Corporate author contributed in the same line of argument, though his inclination was towards the impacts then cause. His argument is in resonance to the arguments of El-Erian critically analyzed above. The author specifically talks about the strong appreciation of most Asian currencies against USD while there being still others, which were weaker than they were before the global financial crisis (Business Asia, 2009). The appreciation of other currencies has put the undervalued currency under pressure to appreciate further. China in this respect has continued to keep its currency undervalued. A rapid appreciation would imply a slower accumulation of foreign reserves. This brings two aspects under concern. First is the rising threat of protectionism from European countries and the US and the other is the giving full control of monetary policy back to Government (Business Asia, 2009). The corporate author of Business Asia (Business Asia, 2009) also forces us to contemplate upon the issue, which is the rapid appreciation of currencies in Asia, especially in China, who has been keeping a modest appreciation rate in light of the threat of protectionism from EU and US. The weaker currency if allowed to appreciate rapidly would instigate protectionism from EU and US on now not so cheap goods owing to the devaluation of USD itself as well as the appreciation Asian currencies. However this would also imply developmental growth in other countries (referring to China) relative to the US (Business Asia, 2007). Furthermore another incentive for letting the currency appreciate for China and other Asian countries would be that letting the exchange rate fluctuate on its own terms, the Government will finally be free to use the monetary instruments to manipulate and reshape their monetary policy which otherwise had been committed to keeping the exchange rate fluctuations in chec k (Business Asia, 2009). From the discussions regarding the exchange rate by different authors so far, it has been an enlightening experience to contemplate upon the issues faced in the real world by the real economies regarding the Foreign exchange rate fluctuations, how they are affected differently by the conditions of the economy in different countries, and the what reactions it induce in the effected economies. The Exchange rate fluctuation is now better understood in terms of two countries respected currency values. We can see a number of different impacting factors changing the rate which include the loosening of monetary policy in to let the Chinese currency appreciate against all currencies and on the other hand the devaluation of dollar appreciated the Chinese currency even further. Resultantly changing the relative development indicators of the countries effected (Business Asia, 2007). Furthermore, the effects on the foreign exchange rate we also saw the application of the effects that the fluctuations of FOREX have on the economies, which is an exposure to the risk of losing trade as mentioned in our literature review (Business Asia, 2009). The rapidly increasing currency value also come forth rapidly rising prices of exports goods which would induce a fall in demand or worse, protectionist policies, in the importing countries for the exported goods of the country experiencing currency appreciation (Business Asia, 2007). Besides the risk of protectionism and other changing exchange rates negative impacts the positive impacts include in the likely situation of appreciation as mentioned above, loosening of control on exchange rates frees the monetary policy to concentrate on the other sectors of the economy. Also the appreciating value of the currency creates major attraction for short-term and high-return investment seekers (Huang, 2010). This can be explained bett er by Ying Huangs argument on the main reason of speculative fund inflow to China. Huang (2010) attempts to decipher the main reason for the inflow of funds into Chinese economy. The massive overseas funds inflow, according to the author, is primarily due to the appreciation in the Chinese Currency which makes it attractive to investors. These funds aim to earn a higher comparative return on short term basis due to high interest rates offered in China as Opposed to that of the United States. And, although, the housing and the stock market appear to be the main attraction of investments since funds may appear to target investment in these markets, however, the attractive appreciating Chinese currency is the major reason of the speculative inflow of funds and not these markets (Huang, 2010). An appreciating value of Chinese currency shows promising future to the investors who seek high returns in a very short period. The reason being that, in spite of the high interest rates offered to the investors the appreciating value of currency increases the return by an even larger total than just with the high returns. The high returns and increasing value by the virtue of increasing Foreign exchange rate is major attraction for investors. The article pointed out the fact that even though the housing and stock market appear to be the investment targets reeling in the major influx of funds from overseas, however the main star of the speculative flow is the attractive currency of Chinese owing to its appreciating nature. The housing and stock market do not cause this major influx, however they do become the target investments eventually directly or indirectly (Huang, 2010). This pretty much elaborates our discussion on foreign exchange rate; however, we still need further evidence upon the risk exposures that have been mentioned as an effect to these fluctuations in terms of their impact on economy or investors and why or why not investors decide to take precautionary measures in taking shelters from this kind of risk exposure Risk Exposure- Avoid it or Avoid Avoiding it? A decent explanation can be induced by analyzing the perspective of Georgina Lee (Lee, 2009). Lee talks about the increased scrutiny that Chinese state owned businesses have to face now. The derivatives market used to hedge the investments against interest, currency and commodity risk are put under surveillance in order to put constraints on this phenomena and discourage these market transactions that would eventually lead to too much hedging that all the risk averse investors would start using these financial instrument to secure their investments. The State-owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission was spurred into action after several State-owned Enterprises, their subsidiaries and affiliates suffered high losses due to failed foreign exchange, fuel and interest rate hedging contracts (Lee, 2009). Although, according to Georgina Lee, the use of derivate securities as financial instruments to hedge the investments against certain kind of risks may be a very attractive phenomenon of wisely securing your assets against risk, but it brings forth the new kind of risk associated with it, that is the probability of losing profits in case unexpected adverse circumstances would come into play (Lee, 2009). The article discusses the new limitations and regulations put to scrutinize the state-owned businesses and restrain them from using derivative securities. After observing several high profile losses incurred to state-owned enterprises, the SASAC came into action to prevent further losses due to failed foreign exchange, interest and fuel hedging contracts (Lee, 2009). Lees discussion merely elaborates why Chinese Supervision Commission had to keep in check the derivative markets in order to prevent another experience like past of failed securities. However, it is more of a choice in other countries than of a legislative measure, which is made after analyzing the costs incurred in using the financial hedging instruments (Larry Kirschner, 2009). Larry Kirschner elaborates upon the Foreign Exchange Rate risk exposure and how and why different companies manipulate the financial derivatives as instrument to manage their risk. Also they write that a few companies would rather not address the foreign exchange risk exposure at all. According to the authors, it requires a great deal of understanding, assessment and prioritization of the exposures before they can apply these any hedging instrument to gain from such investments (Larry Kirschner, 2009).They observe that where many companies have become complacent with their foreign exchange risk management practices, there exist other companies that would rather condone addressing to such exposures. There are many things to consider and much effort required before utilizing any instrument to manage against such risk exposures (Larry Kirschner, 2009). The implication by the authors enlightens us about the importance of better understanding of the foreign exchange rate fluctuations and risk exposure before they can be manipulated into profit extraction or general hedging against an expected risk of adverse circumstances. The reason for some companies being comfortable with their hedging or risk management practices stands that they understand the further risks attached to it and after having properly assessed, analyzed and derived from the given risks and they have weighed their expectations of gains with current condoning alternative and have reached to a conclusion to generate expectations of comparatively more gains through hedging (Larry Kirschner, 2009). These preliminary requirements are basic necessity and incur some cost as well which discourages other companies from using financial instrument to their own advantage. Thus it can be derived that although risk exposure management may be beneficial for companies to hedge again st exchange rate risk, however, it requires careful analysis of international exposures with due consideration given to internal control by the companies (Larry Kirschner, 2009). The analysis above provides quite an insight on the choices faced by the investors and the reason why they chose to or chose not to use financial derivatives to hedge against the foreign risk. At the end it all depends of your weighted analysis of cost and benefits and risk involved that contribute in the final decision making process (Larry Kirschner, 2009). Despite all these discussions we know from intuition that we as humans would prefer lesser risk. Putting this natural instinct upon financial intuition it should be an understood fact that investors would go for a stable investment of low risk provided he choice is a decision made after thorough analytical efforts. However in light of all the above analysis and our major intuition we should see that due to the depreciating dollar value, many countries investors should have switched to a more stable currency as a reserve currency but we observe that dollar still remains to be the reserve currency all over uncontested with the exc eption of the challenging statement delivered by Governor of Peoples bank of China (Montecillo, 2009). Montecillo (2009) reflects the view of the Governor of Peoples Bank of China, Zhou Xiao Chan, that current global financial system faces vulnerability and systematic risks. He also emphasized that reform must create an international reserve currency with stable value, rule based issuance and manageable supply. The article further illustrates on the point made that they are serving as a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“unit of accountà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? and as a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“medium of exchangeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. Moreover its à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“store of valueà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? is also considered from the perspective of both the government and the private sectors. Following the perspective Governor of peoples Bank of China actually challenged the statement of BSP(the Bangko Sentralng Pilipinas ) that despite declining value of dollar (from 72.7% in end- June2001 to 62.8% as of end- June 2009: the article quotes) dollar will remain the world most widely used currency-Uncontested reserve currency- as no alternative existed as then (Montecillo, 2009). Another type of risk associated with the foreign exchange rate fluctuation has been thoroughly highlighted in this article enlightened by the challenging statement of Governor of Peoples Bank of China. With the declining value of dollar with respect to other currencies, in effect appreciating them against the USD, the risk associated with them puts the investors in reserve currency at exposure (Montecillo, 2009). The stable foreign reserve currency is the requirement for foreign transactions and for investment purposes. However, a fluctuating reserve currency would create imbalance of gains and losses and putting the market players at a high risk of losing money who have invested in a currency with declining value, for example, and need to pay in other currency that would have appreciated against the reserve currency in effect. Thus the declining value of Dollar though may not have challenged its world-wide demand as a reserve currency, but China has contested that perspective in ter m of demanding a relatively stable alternative and seek shelter from the exposure this foreign exchange rate fluctuation risk (Montecillo, 2009). Data Analysis Figure 1: Foreign Direct Investment in China Untitled.png (The World Bank, 2010) The figure shows foreign direct investment in China which is increasing over the period at an increasing rate (The World Bank, 2010). The reason can be explained as an induction due to attraction of high interest rates and constantly increasing value of Chinese currency (Huang, 2010). The appreciating Chinese currency is a major attraction for short term foreign investors seeking high returns on their investments. Thus, the increase in the foreign direct investment can be justified by the increase in the Chinese currency against other currencies and also the deprecation of dollar against Asian currencies (Business Asia, 2009). Figure 2: Growth in Money Supply (percentage change) Untitled2.png (The World Bank, 2010) The increase in the money supply can be seen as an effort to prevent the adverse consequences expected to be brought up by the simultaneous increase in the value of Chinese Currency against US dollar and the Depreciation of US dollar against Asian currencies (Business Asia, 2009). it is only by selling out domestic currency and buying the foreign currency, that the central bank of china would be able to keep the demand for Chinese currency low and hence low value and keep the foreign reserves high to keep the foreign currency to depreciate against their own currency to avoid the risk of protectionism (Business Asia, 2007). The Foreign reserves record can be observed in figure 2. Figure 3: Chinas Foreign Reserves (includes Gold, Current US$) Untitled3.png (The World bank, 2010) The figure above shows the increase in the foreign reserve currency ( US dollars) which further supports our claim of China having had used protective measure to keep the appreciation of its currency modest by buying in foreign reserves and selling our domestic currency (The World Bank, 2010). Clearly these efforts have been put into play after 2004 since the foreign direct investment had a peaking high rate of increment till that year as can be observed in the Figure 1 (The World Bank, 2010). And since the value of currency has been attempted to put under control, the threat of protectionist policies against Chinese exports receded as he prices of exports against started to fall as can be observed in the figure 3 (The World bank, 2010). Figure 4: USD-CNY Untitled.png (Yahoo, 2010) We see the appreciating Chinese currency against USD but till 2005 mid a very stable exchange rate points towards the mentioned efforts on behalf of Chinese government by manipulating the money supply to keep the Foreign exchange rate from appreciating (The World Bank, 2010). However, during the period of constant exchange rate or say merely constant keeping a moderate change allowed, the currency did come under pressure (Business Asia, 2009) for its own increasing value to be taken care of while also managing the impact of depreciation of dollar on the Chinese currency and eventually its exports (Business Asia, 2007). After 2006 the monetary policy seems to have been allowed to let lose the exchange rate to be able to concentrate on the other sectors as well (Business Asia, 2007). Methodology The way to go about the research conducted for this term paper is known as the methodology. The method pursued in gathering the required material and data for the paper comprises mostly follows a general type in terms of the form and efforts put in to acquire it. There are majorly three type data sources used for research reports or gathering relevant data on the topic of interest (Lombard, 2010).But our concern is with the Secondary Research or Data Collection method. This includes data and observational facts as already recorded by previous researchers. The provided datasets have already been analyzed and shaped before by previous writers and authors with copyrights protecting their work. The material from the secondary source is further manipulated and used to assist in making points of information with proper referencing and credits paid to the original workers. As readily available data sets they are a persons prior choice to any other method. Some negative aspects, however, are associated with the Secondary data sets as well. Despite the time saving and cost saving features of Secondary data sets, there is no guarantee of them meeting the exact requirements of the researcher seeking evidence to support his theories or claims. Furthermore the validity and reliability of the researched data sets may be in question and source can project dubious impressions unless the researches are conducted by reliable sources as government agencies (Lombard, 2010) Purpose of Research The purpose of research is to help make the understanding of concepts of foreign exchange rate fluctuations. and its causes and effects and the hedging and investment against these fluctuations easy in light of evidence from Chinese currency revaluation against US Dollars, the investment it induced, and the negative and the positive aspects of the Chinese currency revaluation. Research Approach and Strategy Given the purpose of the research and the types of the research explained it comes down to putting it down to defining our Strategy and deciding which approach to adopt (Lombard, 2010). Bearing in mind the scale and the scope of our topic and the limited resources, the best and most efficient approach for us to have, which we adopted, is to gather data from secondary research source upon the evidence of Chinese economy to explain the different aspects of the foreign exchange rate role in the economy. All our research material refers to a secondary data source, which consists of point of views of different authors publishing their research or findings in articles appearing in periodicals. Our strategy remains to manipulate this secondary source material and mold them to help up support our own claims and concepts without changing the main framework and the meaning of ideas associated with the empirical evidence. This approach not only proved the strategy to be cost effective but also very efficient in term of time saving and with proper citation the sources can tracked back to authenticate their reliability and validity. Data Collection and Analysis Provided with the theoretical concepts from different authors point of views (referring to the Literature review), relevant data including charts/data sets recording foreign exchange rate fluctuations in Chinese currency against US Dollar and its induction of investment and other impacts are provided in the section covering statistical data for better analysis of our concepts in view of empirical evidence. Findings The course of writing this term paper has helped us find and clear quite a few things which need to be summarized in this section. The findings of this research includes the following important concepts Foreign Exchange Rate Fluctuations and Causes Chinas Foreign exchange rate had been increasing moderately owing to their controlled efforts. The efforts of controlling the exchange rate from fluctuating was in line due to risk of protectionist policies against Chinese exports from EU and US countries because of rapidly increasing value of currency relative to other currencies (Business Asia, 2007). Also there was pressure due to depreciating value of dollar against the Asian currencies which made matters worse and the need for control bigger. The foreign exchange rate was stabilized by diverting monetary policy into manipulating the money supply accordingly to set the foreign exchange rate at fixed level (El-Erian, ONeill, Bergsten, Mohamed, 2007). Besides the threat of protectionism there was also a positive impact of being included under the impression of having hit a developmental hike. Foreign Exchange Rate Risk and its Management The exchange rate fluctuations bring about its own pros and cons. In the case of china, the appreciating value of Chinese currency brought about major investment incentives and a major attraction for short term high return seeking investors (Huang, 2010). And with investment opportunities come forth the risk associated with these investments and its management (Lee, 2009) which in turn brings forth more risks of losing money by using investment derivatives without proper calculation of risk involved in the investment related to the exchange rate fluctuation and correctly predicting FOREX forecast. It is very important to first analyze the risks associated before deciding whether or not to hedge against it or if it is even worth hedging against (Lee, 2009). Anomalies Despite what we expect based upon our calculative procedure of forecasting and weighting and comparing alternatives, there is always a chance for an anomaly to exist within all kinds circumstances. With all our observation of increasing Chinese currency value and dollar being instable, we would have expected the world to shift to a more stable and risk free currency as their reserve currency. However, we see that with the exception of challenging statement from the governor of Peoples Bank of China, Dollar remains as the reserve currency of most of the countries uncontested (Montecillo, 2009). Conclusion We conclude our term paper with summarizing the findings during the course of our research and finally stating the end result to what our findings led us to extract as our conclusion. We found that Fluctuating exchange rates have impacts, both positive and negative on, on different sectors of the economy, especially trade and investment. We also found that investment brings along a lot of risks and it requires a very careful and analyzed decision whether to hedge against these risk or not and using which derivative. We learned that despite our careful calculations, not everything works out according to our predictions and there is always some chance of error in calculations or an unpredictable situation taking over. The reason for slow appreciation in Chinese Currency against other currency, especially US Dollar, in the first half of the current decade can be credited to the efforts put in to keep the exchange rate from appreciating, which projected a threat of protectionist policies from trading partners against the Chinese exports that were becoming less cheap (Business Asia, 2007). The, efforts however, involved binding the monetary policy to exchange rate fluctuations and keep it from being used for other sectors. On the other hand, if the Chinese had let the exchange rate fluctuate freely, it would free th

Heritage Assessment

Heritage Assessment NRS-429V | Culture and Cultural Competency in Health Promotion John Thomas 3/24/13 The Heritage Assessment tool is primarily used as a device to evaluate health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration of a person’s cultural beliefs and values (Spector, 2006). This assessment helps aid in providing quality patient care in that it helps to meet and respect the needs of different types of people and their respective backgrounds (Spector, 2002).This particular paper serves to compare and contrast the ethnicities of Indian, Caucasian, and Arabic families using health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration as evaluation markers. The purpose was to identify and isolate different groups of people and their unique health practices and traditions that were based off their heritage or background. An assessment of these ethnicities led to several discoveries that I believe could truly improve our methods of health care. Cultural awareness is an essential part of life, especially in this country that is considered to be the melting pot of the world.Cultural awareness can be defined as understanding and appreciation the difference between oneself and people of other backgrounds and cultural beliefs (Shen, 2004). Cultural competence is a term used to refer to awareness and skill acquired to be able to care for people of different ethnicities and cultures (Purnell, 2002). The heritage assessment tool serves as a questionnaire of sorts that is used by personnel in management or care-providing positions in order to gain a better familiarity of a patient/client’s values before providing care (Spector, 2002).These can include questions about everything from their childhood experiences to varying health practices carried out in their homes. These all contribute in helping the nurse/caregiver to be culturally sensitive and utilize the questionnaire to provide quality care to the patient without unknowingly overstepping any boundaries. The Indian family I observed and talked to was my own. Growing up in India had a huge impact on my life and the choices I still make today. Upon working out the Heritage Assessment tool, I found that I still hold deeply rooted ties to my homeland and that I have tried to raise my children in the ame way. Though lifestyles are completely different when comparing the person living actually in India to the individual with an Indian background, a plethora of factors pertaining to health still carry over. Indian families tend to eat foods that are heavy with spices and capsaicin. Studies have shown that these have a number of health benefits including weight loss. When looking into some of the decisions that my family has made that seem to stand out from my friends of different background, diet and religion seem to stand out the most.Indian families are acutely aware of balance and moderation and this can be seen in the average meal. Religion is also a key factor in heal th protection. I have found that families will turn to God to keep their loved ones safe. Being from an Indian Catholic family, I am painfully aware this can also have its down side. For example, Catholicism discourages the use of contraceptives. This is a serious issue when understanding how this affects the growth of the AIDS epidemic not only among Indians but the rest of the world.In terms of restoration, there are more herbal remedies and natural medicines involved than antibiotics and pills. My wife still makes an array of teas and extracts for our children before resorting to taking them to a doctor. The Arabic family I talked to had a surprising number of parallels to my own. They were also driven by religion when it came to health protection. An illness was often considered to be unlucky and a curse from Allah for your sins. The diet high in spices and vegetables seemed a reasonable method of health maintenance.The values of the Arabic values were much stricter than the oth er families I talked to. An incident comes to mind of when it is very important to keep the values and traditions of the patient in mind. A Muslim woman was pregnant and nearing her due date. When it came time for her delivery, the only available Gynecologist was male and went through with the standard procedure and she delivered a healthy baby boy. The woman however, was shunned from her community because the doctor was a man who was not her husband.Situations such as these are important to keep in mind when providing care to patients. The Arabic family also was more open to natural medicine and homeopathic medicine and sought to find a way to cure themselves before seeking outside help at a medical facility. Lastly, the Caucasian family that were my neighbors seemed the most different from the families that I had talked to but the most open and attentive to the world around them. Though their diet was not the best, they seemed more inclined towards exercise and consumption of vita mins to maintain their health and protection of their health.They were also much better about keeping up with regular doctors’ visits and checkups and opted for more immunizations and vaccinations. They seemed more up to date and modernized in all aspects of health. They were also more trusting of modern medicines and prescriptions. They heavily relied on the healthcare system for health restoration even for the simplest medical issues. In conclusion, all three ethnicities have varying lifestyles that contribute to their current status of health. It is important to keep in mind that this is not an accurate report of that general culture.Rather it is an extremely small sample that I found to compare to other families in a somewhat suburban town. I found it very interesting that even with drastically different beliefs and values, all three cultures seemed to value their immensely, even though each had their own traditions and methods so as to preserve that state of health. From the stories and experiences I have heard in talking with these people, I believe it is more imperative than ever that nurses direct more attention to the usefulness of the Heritage Assessment tool.References Purnell, L. (2002). The Purnell model for cultural competence. Journal of transcultural nursing,  13(3), 193-196. Shen, Z. (2004). Cultural competence models in nursing. Journal of Transcultural Nursing,  15(4), 317-322. Spector, R. E. (2002). Cultural diversity in health and illness. Journal of Transcultural Nursing,  13(3), 197-199. Spector, R. E. (2004). Culture care: guide to heritage assessment and health traditions. Prentice Hall. Heritage Assessment Heritage Assessment Cultural competency is an essential part of nursing. Catering to the population of the United States as a nurse, one must embrace the cultures of others to provide competent care that will address the needs of the patient in a holistic manner. Beliefs of health management and care differ for all cultures. Being familiar with all backgrounds and cultures is a key factor in providing culturally appropriate care for patients. Illness and the care for illness and disease is viewed differently from culture to culture.The ability to understand and respect the differences among all cultures needs to be utilized by all healthcare providers. Since the perception of illness and disease and their causes varies by culture, these individual preferences affect the approaches to health care. Culture also influences how people seek health care and how they behave toward health care providers (Cultural Diversity, 2012). As health care providers we must learn how to take the proper steps in assessing cultural backgrounds of patients.Asking the appropriate questions can help create a treatment plan that will provide quality care that tends to the patients cultural beliefs as well. In assessment of three cultures: Filipino, Chinese, and Asian-Indians although they share similar views on health care they also have some differences as well. Health beliefs of the Chinese culture are centered on harmony and how to achieve it. Influences of this harmony involved, Yin/Yang, Relationship of elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, water, Psychosomatic Integration, Buddhism, and Taoism.In all the listed influences balance is the key factor that they share. Knowledge of historical experiences of Filipino cohort groups may provide health care providers with additional insights into an older person and the family members’ responses to clinical encounters and the recommended plan of care (McBride, 1996). Indigenous health beliefs of the Filipino culture like the Chinese culture centered on balance. The Filipino people call it â€Å"timbang† which is translated into balance. The belief that a rapid shift from hot to cold will end in illness for the individual, thus causing the body to be imbalanced.For Asian-Indians Hinduism is a social system as well as a religion; therefore customs and practices are closely interwoven. â€Å"Karma† is a law of behavior and consequences in which actions of past life affects the circumstances in which one is born and lives in this life. Despite complete understanding of biological causes of illness, it is often believed that the illness is caused by â€Å"Karma† (Alagiakrishnan, 1996). They believe that the body was connected and looked at as a whole. Mind, body and spirit are one and health is highly tied to all factors of the whole being.Asian- Indians also believe in balance that needs to be attained mentally, physically and spiritually to achieve balance within the entire being. Health prote ction for the Chinese culture derives from traditional Chinese treatments such as acupuncture to help realign the energy of the body, herbology to protect the body from illness or to get rid of the illness in the body and correct the â€Å"chi† within the individual. The most common is the use of yin/yang. Some Chinese elders will avoid food that can be considered cold food because of fear that it will throw their body off balance and diminish the harmony.Meditation and prayer is a form a protection used by the Filipino, Chinese and Asian-Indian Culture. Meditation is most often seen in Chinese and Asian-Indian culture than the Filipino cultures. Religion plays a huge role in cultural beliefs in health protection. Although all cultures believe in different forms of a higher being or power, nonetheless traditional elders of the cultures seek faith as a form of protection from illness and disease. Health restoration among the Filipino, Chinese and Asian-Indian cultures share th e similarity of balance.Just like the focus of health promotion, restoration is also centered around a form of balance, depending on the culture that is being addressed. The Chinese culture use methods of yin/yang and cupping with the use of heated bamboo cups to reduce stress of the mind and body. The Filipino culture uses â€Å"heating† which acts as a balancing tool to achieve harmony. Filipino cultures uses healers to aid in removing illness from the body through methods of herbs, prayer and rituals. The Asian- Indian culture also uses elder healers to restore health back into the body.Since the cultures being compared are all of Asian descent. The cultures show significant similarities as far as the goals they are trying to achieve: promote, maintain and restore health to the body. The balance of all aspects of the body showed grave importance in all cultures. The methods however are different in the sense of rituals that are preformed, the Gods that are prayed to for pr otection, and the types of herbs that are used to create medicine. The ancient and traditional methods mentioned are practiced and exercised more by the elder generations of the cultures.As more generations are being born here in the United States it seems as if the rituals and methods of healthcare are becoming fused with western medicine as well. Incorporating was has been passed down from generation to generation as well as things learned from physicians and nurses here, the younger generation of the cultures somewhat pick and choose cultural practices and methods that they feel would best suit the issue that is being experienced. In a situation such as a minor cold is starting to become an issue, the families will use traditional methods such as hot teas, soups or broths to restore the balance.On the other hand if the issue is too great to be just treated on a traditional level, they will seek medical attention and take the proper medicine to get better. The Conclusion Although the genetic makeups of all the cultures are distinctly different, all the cultures still share similar ties in tradition. The Filipino and Chinese culture share more similarities but knowing the history of the two countries one can see that the Filipino people was taken over by the Chinese for sometime. Thus, their influences are seen in many traditions of the Filipino culture. ReferencesMelen McBride, RN, PhD (1996). HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE OF FILIPINO AMERICAN ELDERS. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. stanford. edu/group/ethnoger/filipino. html. [Last Accessed 22 February 13]. Linda Ann S. H. Tom, M. D. (1996). Health and Health Care for CHINESE-AMERICAN ELDERS. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. stanford. edu/group/ethnoger/chinese. html. [Last Accessed 22 Februray 13]. Kannayiram Alagiakrishnan, M. D. (1996). HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE OF ASIAN INDIAN AMERICAN ELDERS. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. stanford. edu/group/ethnoger/asianindian. html. [Last Accessed 22 Februray 13]. Heritage Assessment Heritage Assessment NRS-429V | Culture and Cultural Competency in Health Promotion John Thomas 3/24/13 The Heritage Assessment tool is primarily used as a device to evaluate health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration of a person’s cultural beliefs and values (Spector, 2006). This assessment helps aid in providing quality patient care in that it helps to meet and respect the needs of different types of people and their respective backgrounds (Spector, 2002).This particular paper serves to compare and contrast the ethnicities of Indian, Caucasian, and Arabic families using health maintenance, health protection, and health restoration as evaluation markers. The purpose was to identify and isolate different groups of people and their unique health practices and traditions that were based off their heritage or background. An assessment of these ethnicities led to several discoveries that I believe could truly improve our methods of health care. Cultural awareness is an essential part of life, especially in this country that is considered to be the melting pot of the world.Cultural awareness can be defined as understanding and appreciation the difference between oneself and people of other backgrounds and cultural beliefs (Shen, 2004). Cultural competence is a term used to refer to awareness and skill acquired to be able to care for people of different ethnicities and cultures (Purnell, 2002). The heritage assessment tool serves as a questionnaire of sorts that is used by personnel in management or care-providing positions in order to gain a better familiarity of a patient/client’s values before providing care (Spector, 2002).These can include questions about everything from their childhood experiences to varying health practices carried out in their homes. These all contribute in helping the nurse/caregiver to be culturally sensitive and utilize the questionnaire to provide quality care to the patient without unknowingly overstepping any boundaries. The Indian family I observed and talked to was my own. Growing up in India had a huge impact on my life and the choices I still make today. Upon working out the Heritage Assessment tool, I found that I still hold deeply rooted ties to my homeland and that I have tried to raise my children in the ame way. Though lifestyles are completely different when comparing the person living actually in India to the individual with an Indian background, a plethora of factors pertaining to health still carry over. Indian families tend to eat foods that are heavy with spices and capsaicin. Studies have shown that these have a number of health benefits including weight loss. When looking into some of the decisions that my family has made that seem to stand out from my friends of different background, diet and religion seem to stand out the most.Indian families are acutely aware of balance and moderation and this can be seen in the average meal. Religion is also a key factor in heal th protection. I have found that families will turn to God to keep their loved ones safe. Being from an Indian Catholic family, I am painfully aware this can also have its down side. For example, Catholicism discourages the use of contraceptives. This is a serious issue when understanding how this affects the growth of the AIDS epidemic not only among Indians but the rest of the world.In terms of restoration, there are more herbal remedies and natural medicines involved than antibiotics and pills. My wife still makes an array of teas and extracts for our children before resorting to taking them to a doctor. The Arabic family I talked to had a surprising number of parallels to my own. They were also driven by religion when it came to health protection. An illness was often considered to be unlucky and a curse from Allah for your sins. The diet high in spices and vegetables seemed a reasonable method of health maintenance.The values of the Arabic values were much stricter than the oth er families I talked to. An incident comes to mind of when it is very important to keep the values and traditions of the patient in mind. A Muslim woman was pregnant and nearing her due date. When it came time for her delivery, the only available Gynecologist was male and went through with the standard procedure and she delivered a healthy baby boy. The woman however, was shunned from her community because the doctor was a man who was not her husband.Situations such as these are important to keep in mind when providing care to patients. The Arabic family also was more open to natural medicine and homeopathic medicine and sought to find a way to cure themselves before seeking outside help at a medical facility. Lastly, the Caucasian family that were my neighbors seemed the most different from the families that I had talked to but the most open and attentive to the world around them. Though their diet was not the best, they seemed more inclined towards exercise and consumption of vita mins to maintain their health and protection of their health.They were also much better about keeping up with regular doctors’ visits and checkups and opted for more immunizations and vaccinations. They seemed more up to date and modernized in all aspects of health. They were also more trusting of modern medicines and prescriptions. They heavily relied on the healthcare system for health restoration even for the simplest medical issues. In conclusion, all three ethnicities have varying lifestyles that contribute to their current status of health. It is important to keep in mind that this is not an accurate report of that general culture.Rather it is an extremely small sample that I found to compare to other families in a somewhat suburban town. I found it very interesting that even with drastically different beliefs and values, all three cultures seemed to value their immensely, even though each had their own traditions and methods so as to preserve that state of health. From the stories and experiences I have heard in talking with these people, I believe it is more imperative than ever that nurses direct more attention to the usefulness of the Heritage Assessment tool.References Purnell, L. (2002). The Purnell model for cultural competence. Journal of transcultural nursing,  13(3), 193-196. Shen, Z. (2004). Cultural competence models in nursing. Journal of Transcultural Nursing,  15(4), 317-322. Spector, R. E. (2002). Cultural diversity in health and illness. Journal of Transcultural Nursing,  13(3), 197-199. Spector, R. E. (2004). Culture care: guide to heritage assessment and health traditions. Prentice Hall.

Leadership Styles in Professional Nursing Essay - 1376 Words

Introduction In healthcare it is very important to have strong leaders, especially in the nursing profession. A nurse leader typically uses several styles of leadership depending on the situation presented; this is known as situational leadership. It is important that the professional nurse choose the right style of leadership for any given situation to ensure their employees are performing at their highest potential. Depending on which leadership style a nurse leader uses, it can affect staff retention and the morale of the employees as well as nurse job satisfaction (Azaare Gross, 2011.) â€Å"Nursing leaders have the responsibility to create and maintain a work environment which not only promotes positive patient outcomes but also†¦show more content†¦One mistake that new nurse leaders make is that they believe that the only way to get things accomplished, is to be direct and autocratic (Kerfoot, 2008.) The new leader’s fear of failing can influence them to take on the autocratic role to try and earn respect from their employees. However, this is not considered to be very effective among staff. When the professional nurse takes on the autocratic leadership trait and uses it on a daily basis, employees feel micromanaged. When a manager micromanages their employees they take the risk of lowering morale, and losing good workers (North, 2011.) Nurses have a lot of autonomy in their profession. They work independently and take responsibility for their actions. When they become micromanaged by their nurse leader, it takes away that autonomy and creates a work environment that is very low in morale, and can hurt the relationship between manager and employee. Often managers are experiencing a substantial amount of stress from the administration concerning budgets, deadlines, and high performance issues, but this does not justify micromanaging employees (North, 2011.) It is important to give your staff some independence; this lets them know you trust their judgment (North, 2011.) A nurse leader may also change their leadership style depending on if they are dealing with an inexperienced new graduate nurse, or an experienced veteran nurse. Another leadership style that is common among nurse leaders is the democraticShow MoreRelatedLeadership Styles in Professional Nursing1571 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Leadership ability is the most important role of all nurses, and to be a great leader one must know the different styles of leadership. Developing future nurse leaders is a great challenge in today’s nursing profession and powerful leadership skills are needed by all nurses in every aspect of the profession. 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Authoritarian, Democratic and Delegative are the three styles of leadershipsRead MoreLeadership And Group Management : An Important Factor For Fulfillment And Development1218 Words   |  5 PagesAbstract: Leadership and group management is a crucial issue in healthcare and nursing institutions, where people needs and impacts of technology generates competitive advantage for institutions. Nursing leadership is an important factor for fulfillment and development of organizational group and personal goals. This article reviews the types and concepts of leadership skills, which nurses should possess to develop their professional discipline. Introduction: Professional nurses need to possess adequate

European Democratic Deficit - 2826 Words

The democratic deficit is a theory developed by scholars in order to illustrate that the European Union and its institutional bodies suffer from a lack of democracy (Wincott, 1998, p. 414). However, there are many definitions of the democratic deficit (Chryssochoou, 2000; Justice, 1996; Warleigh, 2003; Weiler, Haltern Mayer, 1995) depending on the views and approaches of each scholar. Joseph Weilers ‘standard version of the democratic deficit is one of the most common definitions and it is a set of widely-used arguments by academics, scholars and the media (Weiler et al., 1995, cited by Follesdal Hix, 2005, p. 4). It consists of five claims that explain why the EU can be called undemocratic and they are the following: a) there is an†¦show more content†¦9). With regards to the claim that the European Parliament is too weak (the second of Weilers standard version claims), Moravcsik (2002; 2003) emphasises the fact that during the last twenty years, the European Parliament is the institution which have experienced the most reforms, regarding its increase of powers, compare to the Council and the Commission. The latter argument is in fact accurate because ever since the Single European Act (1986), the European Parliament gains more and more power by reforms in every signed Treaty (Moravcsik, 2003, p. 7). Despite that, however, the Parliament is still considered to be weak compared to the other institutions, as it will be analysed later in the essay. Overall, according to Moravcsik, there is no democratic deficit because there is no gap between the national governments and the EU, since his liberal-intergovernmental theory suggests that the EU solely rests on pillars of national economic interest, intergovernmental bargaining and the desire for credible commitments (Wincott, 1998, p. 424). He stresses that the EU should not be compared to a state because it is not one and his key point is that providing the Member States remain the main actors in the EU and the Community stays just an international organisation, there will never be a problem of legitimacy and democratic accountability since the Member states, whose governments are directly elected from the citizens, will be the decision-makers. It could be said thatShow MoreRelatedThe Democratic Deficit And The European Union2195 Words   |  9 PagesThe democratic deficit is a concept invoked in the argument that the European Union (EU) and its variety of bodies suffer from a l ack of democracy and have become seen as isolated from the â€Å"ordinary citizen† as their methods of operation are extremely complex. Over the last two decades we have witnessed an almost continuously ongoing debate regarding the correct constitutional structure for Europe.[ Moravscik, A., (2002), â€Å"In the Defence of the Democratic Deficit: Reassessing Legitimacy in the EuropeanRead MoreThe European Unions Democratic Deficit1800 Words   |  8 PagesThe European Union has greatly evolved over the decades since it has begun into a well-evolved quasi-state of over 28 countries, and over five hundred million citizens. The European Union has been regarded as a method to bring democratic stability and economic prosperity to less developed democracies in East and Central Europe. Although the European Union has a mandate to bring all of these standards, the European Union lacks these basic standards for their overall institution. This structural problemRead MoreDemocratic Deficit in the European Union1819 Words   |  8 Pagesgovernment a ‘good kicking’ during European elections, as seen in the UK, Spain and France, rather than vote on a broad manifesto of ideas. This is fuelled further by MEPs campaigning on local issues rather than European ones.† This is an example of part of the democratic deficit in the Europea n Parliament. 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The question of is there a democratic deficit within the EU, despite having dominated many political debates since the 70s, is prominent in today s society now more than ever as a result of the UKs decision to leave the union, consequently causing the world to develop an growing interest in the European Union and its qualitiesRead MoreThe European Union s Democratic Deficit1771 Words   |  8 PagesThe European Union has greatly evolved over the decades since it has begun into a well-evolved quasi-state of over 28 countries, and over five hundred million citizens. The European Union has been regarded as a method to bring democratic stability and economic prosperity to less developed democracies in East and Central Europe. While the European Union has a mandate to bring all of these standards, the European Union lacks these basic standards for their overall institution. 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