Analysis of Board of Directors and Risk Propensity

Analysis of Board of Directors and Risk Propensity Banks are all similarly confronted with particular regulations and inspections of banking supervisions. Within this topic, the board of directors plays an important role. There are different factors considering how the composition of a board might influence its performance and the decision-making process. Therefore, factors like independence, age structure, percentage of minorities and women and the size of the board will be analyzed. After determining the composition, the influence of it on the percentage of equity financing and therefore the risk propensity will be analyzed. Furthermore, the composition will also be linked to performance indicators as Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), and the development of stock quotations. 3.1. Corporate Governance The term corporate governance describes processes through which an organization is controlled and directed. Those structures specify which rights and duties certain participants in a company have and how the decision-making process works. This mostly affects the board of directors, the top management team (TMT) as well as shareholders and other stakeholders (OECD, 2005). Corporate governance is concerned with the possible abuse of power of the managers and the need for certain qualities like openness, integrity and accountability during the whole decision-making process. As shown in Figure 3.1, it also examines how certain mechanisms, including incentives, can help to minimize transactions costs that arise in an organization between principals and agents as described in the agency theory below (Mathiesen, 2002). 3.2 Structure of the Board of Directors The members of the board are generally elected by the shareholders and their responsibilities vary with the nature and the complexity of the organization. However, there are two different systems regarding the boards of directors. On the one hand there is the Anglo-Saxon system in countries like the United States and Japan (12Manage: The Executive Fast track, 2008). This consists of a one-tier board structure, where executive and non-executive directors work together in the board of directors (Weimer and Pape, 1999). This single board is usually entirely appointed by the shareholders and the CEO often also holds the board chair (12Manage: The Executive Fast track, 2008). On the other hand, in countries like Germany and the Netherlands, companies have adopted a two-tier board structure. There, the board is divided into the managing board and the supervisory board to formally separate powers (12Manage: The Executive Fast track, 2008). The managing board is monitored and advised in major policies by the supervisory board (Weimer and Pape, 1999). The CEO holds the chair of the managing board, but cannot hold the chair of the supervisory board at the same time (12Manage: The Executive Fast track, 2008). Even though, the board of directors is usually elected by the shareholders, in some cases also employees elect their own representative(s) from the workforce to support their interests on the board. In state-owned banks directors are delegated to the bank by the State Council and in where the board of directors is spitted up into managing board and supervisory board, the managing directors are appointed by the supervisory board members as shown in Figure 3.2. 3.3 Tasks of the Board of Directors In general, directors represent the shareholders interests, because they provide the elementary assets for running a company. Therefore, the main role of the board of directors is to govern an organization while acting for the shareholders in order to protect their assets and to ensure a decent return on their investments (Oss, 2003; Kennon, 2008). The board of directors is the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“highest governing authority within the management structure at any publicly traded companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Kennon, 2008, n.p.). For this reason, the board is in charge of defining the corporate mission, setting the companys objectives and approving the firms strategy concerning the well judged allocation of the financial resources (Oss, 2003). Even though the board holds the total authority for a companys decision making they cannot manage the companys day-to-day operations, because this is the role of the CEO and the TMT (Oss, 2003). The resulting conflict potential is discussed in the Agency Theory below. According to Oss (2003) it is the boards task to govern and the CEOs to manage. Therefore, a clarified classification of who is in charge will eliminate these conflicts. Furthermore, another stakeholder group exists, as mentioned in the Stak eholder Theory (see Figure 3.3) with additional interests and requirements for the board of directors. Regarding all players and interest groups in an organization, the responsibilities of the board are possible to be divided into a Governance Role, a Service Role and a Control Role. Beside the strategic decisions, an important task of the board members is to appoint special committees like the Audit and Risk Committee, and to select qualified managers, as well as to help and to support them with their skills and expertise. Finally, the board controls if the management meets the companys objectives concerning ethical tenets or laws (Oss, 2003). 3.5 Related Research regarding Board Composition From the theories and former research, it becomes clear that boards have different tasks. Therefore, an optimal structure or composition of the board is essential for fulfilling the tasks. The main tenor in the literature is that in order to work efficiently boards have to be independent with diversity in backgrounds, gender, race and age. However, a certain composition of the board might also affect how much risk the directors are willing to take. The composition of the board receives more and more attention in terms of structure and stability. If a better structured and more stable board of directors is related to a better firm performance, companies with a well-composed board should perform better than other companies. For the purpose of this paper, a well-composed board is defined as a stable and diverse board composed of a majority of independent members along with a number of women and ethnic minority directors. To build the connection to the topic terms à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" board composition on the one side and firm performance and risk propensity on the other side à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" it is important to focus on different behavioral patterns which are the result of variations in board compositions. By investigating the influence of the board composition on firm performance and risk propensity it is possible to get insights into how differently composed boards behave regarding specific board tasks. Differently composed boards behave differently in various situations; for example, when they decide whether to replace a poorly performing CEO or when they choose at what price the company should be sold. The boards decision is also important when the acquisition of another firm has to be approved or whe n takeover defenses have to be adopted and employed. Finally, the board plays a big role when it comes to establishing the CEO and executives compensation packages (Bhagat and Black, 1999). 3.5.4 Board Size Board size is seen as one of the most important factors when it comes to the influence on the performance of a company (Kyereboah-Coleman and Biekpe, 2005). The main view regarding board size is that large boards have a negative impact on the performance of the company. That is, because tasks like coordination, decision-making and the communication between the members are more difficult and expensive, the more directors have to be included (Belkhir, 2008). Therefore, the costs would outweigh the gains of having more expertise on the board. Belkhir (2008) cited Jensens (1993) statement that boards with more than seven or eight people are less effective and easier to control for the CEO. Earlier research of the board size supports the proposition that smaller boards are better. Yermack (1996) discovered a negative relationship between board size and firm performance measured by Tobins Q and several other accounting figures. In their sample of small Finnish firms, Eisenberg et al. (1998) also find a negative relationship between the number of directors and financial success of the company. Furthermore, Kyereboah-Coleman and Biekpe (2005) determined that large board sizes are bad for the sales and growth ratio of companies in Ghana. However, Belkhir (2008) found a non-negative relationship between the size of the board of directors and the firm performance measured by Tobins Q, as well as, by return on assets (ROA) for financial institutions. Especially savings-and-loan holding companies (SLHC) might increase the value of the company with a rising number of directors. Therefore, the next hypothesis is that: H4a: An increasing board size has no negative influence on the company performance. When it comes to taking risks, there is not as much empirical evidence. However, if one looks at the decision-making process of a board, especially when its number of directors is very high, the obvious assumption is that for risky decsions it is more difficult to get a consensus the more people have to vote for it. Furthermore, Pfeffer and Salancick (1978) and Lipton and Lorsch (1992) determined a relationship between the capital structure of a company and its board size. Additionally, a study of Abor and Biepke (2005) discovered that an increasing board size and the debt level of Ghanaian SME are negatively related. Thus, the authors assume that: H4b: The board size is negatively related to the risk propensity of the company. 3.5.5 Board Independence You can distinguish between inside directors (current officers of the company) affiliated outsiders (former company officers, and persons who have business relationships with the company) and independent directors (Bhagat and Black, 1999, p. 4). Independent board members (outside directors) are à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“not associated with or employed by the companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Kennon, 2008, n.p.). According to Kennon, in the United States at least fifty percent of the directors must meet the requirements of independence. A board with fifty percent of independent directors is called a majority-independent board (Bhagat and Black, 1999, p. 4). The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 places a strong emphasis on the independence of directors. Brown et al. (2004) confirmed this requirement with positive results in their study on the effects of the independence of the board members on financial firm performance data. They found that independent boards have higher return on equity (ROE) and profit margins. Furthermore, it is determined that outside directors can monitor the management more effectively than insiders (Bonn, Yoshikawa, and Phan, 2004). Therefore, the conclusion of several empirical studies is that, besides a more diverse board, a more independent board has a positive effect on the financial performance (see also Adams and Mehran, 2008). But, boards with majority-independent directors have both positive and negative effects. On the one hand, inside directors are more involved in the companys operations and might know the business better than outsiders. On the other hand, outside directors might keep cool and act in a more objective way than insiders. Besides that, several studies did not find significant evidence that a higher number of independent directors within the board is related to the quality of financial reporting, or to the likelihood of firm failure. Additionally, there is no evidence of more firm-level diversification or a connection to research and development spending (Bhagat and Black, 1999). Therefore, Bhagat and Black (1999) recommend that it might be valuable for companies to compose their boards with at least a moderate number of inside directors. This is supported by their results that there is a negative relationship between the degree of board independence and firm performance. However, different firms need different types of boards and an optimal board contains a combination of inside, affiliated and independent directors who bring different skills and knowledge to the board (Bhagat and Black, 1999, pp. 32-33). Along with the companys objectives and shareholder interests, boards of banks additionally bear micro- and macro-economic responsibilities, which can be positively influenced by the optimal composition of the board. For board members of financial institutions, a cooperative board-CEO relationship is elementary. Only when the board gets the complete information about the operating business processes from the CEO, can they make the right decisions for the company. For this reason, it is important to know if inside or outside directors can deal better with the CEO or TMT and generate a higher performance. The writers therefore hypothesize for the banking sector, that: H5a: A higher number of outside directors does not influence firm performance. Pfeffer and Salancik (1978) developed the Resource Dependency Theory and determined that a number of outside directors upgrade a companys ability to protect itself against outside influences and reduce the uncertainty level. Furthermore, they stated that outsiders might help the company retain a certain status and raise funds. Thus, a higher number of outside directors on the board should increase the debt level of the company. On top of that, independent directors might act more in the shareholders interests than inside directors (Bonn, Yoshikawa, and Phan, 2004), and for this reason we hypothesize: H5b: A higher number of outside directors will be positively connected to the risk propensity of the company. 3.6 Summary of the Hypotheses In table 3.1. below, all hypotheses are presented at one glance. These propositions have been derived from past studies and behavioral theories as presented above. Table 3.1 Hypotheses Composition Company Performance Risk Propensity Gender Diversity H1a: A higher percentage of women on the board of direc-tors has a positive influence on firm performance. H1b: A higher percentage of women on the board is nega-tively connected to the risk pro-pensity of the company. Average Age of Directors H2a: The average age of the board of directors is nega-tively connected with firm performance. H2b: The average age of the board is positively connected to risk avoidance of the company. Ethnic Diversity H3a: A higher number of minority directors on the board is positively related to company performance. H3b: Minority directors do not affect the risk propensity of the company. Board Size H4a: Increasing board size has no negative influence on the company performance. H4b: The board size is nega-tively related to the risk pro-pensity of the company. Board indepen-dence H5a: A higher number of outside directors does not in-fluence firm performance. H5b: A higher number of outside directors is positively related to the risk propensity of the company. 4. Empirical Study 4.1 Research Methodology 4.1.1 Sample In this empirical research the top 50 banks in the world according to Bankersalmanac.com4 were investigated. The banks were ranked according to their total assets as of June 30, 2008. For the data collection, there was a time span of three years, from 2005 to 2007. This particular group of banks has been chosen, because of their size and international branches. The reasons for choosing the largest banks from all around the world were to have a comparable size of international business when comparing them. If the banks had only been from one or two countries the differences in size would have been significant and the developments on the financial market would have probably only affected the bigger banks. This might have had an effect on the performance. Thuse, for 2007 the results could have possibly been very inconsistent. Regarding the chosen sample, it can be assured that the international situation has affected them all à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" some banks more than others, depending on how risky their business operations were. That results in a possible interpretation on how each bank, with managers and board directors, has dealt with the problems and obstacles. 4.1.2 Data Collection Method The necessary data for this study were collected from the annual reports of the 50 financial institutions. The data about the board of directors were found in the corporate governance section of the reports. Data about the company performance were gathered from the consolidated income statements and balance sheets of the banks. The data were usually dated the 31st December of the year. However, some bans adopted a fiscal year ending on March 31, or September 30 of the year. Then, we considered the Annual Reports from March 31, 2008 as belonging to 2007 as well as the Annual Reports from September 30, 2007. This way, it could be assured that the figures were all derived during the similar time period. Furthermore, the main capital ratios, necessary for the risk propensity were taken from the section risk management. However, there are no strict regulations on how companies have to structure their annual reports. Therefore, the relevant data of some financial institutions was found in different parts of the annual reports or on the websites of the companies. 4.2 Operationalization The research data were collected in an Excel sheet for further calculations and preparation purposes with regard to the statistical analysis using the statistics program SPSS. During the research process the researchers also used a complementary list to record secondary and supportive information needed to calculate the total numbers for the primary Excel list. 4.2.1 Board Composition Data The five board composition variables were selected by the authors and the corresponding information about those data were collected as presented in the following paragraphs. 4.2.1.1 Board Size The board size was recorded by counting the members and listing their names. This was done for all three years to find out if there were any changes in the board composition from one year to another. The changes were recorded in the complementary lists. The total number of board members for each bank and each of the three years were transferred to the primary Excel sheet. 4.2.1.3 Independent Directors Next, the authors looked at the percentage of independent directors. The financial institutions usually indicated in the annual reports or on their homepage which members of the board were independent. However, sometimes it was not explicitly alluded neither in the annual report nor on the companys website. Then, the researchers decided if a director was independent or not using an own definition described above. The authors examined if s/he has any other connection to the company beyond the board activities; for instance if him/her is or was employed by the bank in the last years or bears executive tasks. If there was no connection (excluding shareholding) at all, s/he was defined as independent director. The share ownership of directors was excluded, because at some banks each director is obliged to hold at least a small number of shares. The sum of all independent directors of each bank was copied to the list and divided by the total number of members. 4.2.2 Company Performance Indicators To investigate the influence of the board composition on the firm performance the authors chose four performance measures divided into two categories: operating performance and shareholder payout. The three most important financial indicators are the performance measures Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), and the Efficiency Rate (CIR). Besides this, the researchers also looked at the share performances compared to previous years. These are all common indicators, which are important for shareholders. Furthermore, they are well comparable to the results previous studies in other industry branches showed using the same indicators. To control for the possibility that the performance indictors will be connected to the size of the bank, total assets were also recorded and will be included in the correlation tables and regression models. 4.2.2.1 Return on Assets The accounting measure of a companys profitability, Return on Assets (ROA), indicates net income from all of the banks operations relative to the average book value of all assets (Carter, DSouza, Simkins, Simpson, 2007, p. 15). It shows how beneficial assets are used by management to create earnings for the company. This means that it is possible to see how much profit was derived from invested assets (Investopedia, Definitions, 2008). It is calculated as: ROA= Net Income/ Avg. Total Assets 4.3 Credibility of the Research Data 4.3.1 Reliability Reliability is concerned with the question if the data that were collected by the researchers would be consistent with the findings other researchers would have using the same sources (Saunders et al., 2007). The most data were collected by the authors in a quantitative but diligent manner from the published and certified annual reports of the banks. Due to this fact, the research data cannot be interpreted wrong by the researchers and therefore have a high reliability. However, when it comes to the board composition data about women, minorities and independent directors, the authors had to interpret by using pictures or curriculum vitae of the directors. The gender of the board members is usually recognizable when using pictures. Thus, it is clear and should not be inconsistent when other researchers collect these data. A little more difficult is the question about minorities. For that part, the biographies have to be considered, especially, when it comes to questions about backgrou nds and where the people grew up. This fact can lead to different interpretations depending on who collects the data. However, the definitions on ethnic minorities were made clear in the theoretical part and thus, the results should be very consistent. When deciding about the independence of the directors, there are two factors to consider. First, when the banks noted if the directors were independent, this was just copied for the research. These data are very reliable, because there is no space for interpretation. However, if it was not indicted and the biographies of the directors were read and the decisions about the independence were basically made after reading the professional background. Therefore, other researchers could have a different opinion about directors independence. To summarize, most of the data are very reliable, because they are published and just have to be copied. Only for factors, that the authors had to interpret, it could come to inconsistencies, which should be very limited though, because the data collection was done very diligently and clearly set definitions have been used. 4.3.2 Validity Validity of data is concerned with the question if the findings are what they appear to be. The researcher has to find out if the variables really have a causal relationship (Saunders et al., 2007, p.150). In this study, it was made clear through the theoretical background that board composition and company performance, as well as, risk propensity influence each other. This is mainly secured by the fact that the board of directors makes decisions which are intended to influence the financial results. However, to make sure that the relations between the board and firm performance and risk propensity are not accidental, four performance measures and two risk measures that were studied. A problem could arise, if the results are inconsistent. If that was the case, the contradicting results have to be interpreted and explained. 4.3.3 Generalisability The aim of this research study was to be able to generalize the results, which means to be able to apply the results to other settings (Saunders et al., 2007). Other settings could be for example a different group of banks or maybe other companies located in the same countries and also have international operations. For this reason, the quantitative research method was applied. To get reliable and valid results the authors collected almost 150 data sets by investigating 50 banks over three years. The number of banks was not selected by the authors but provided by a public resource which registered the 50 largest banks as measured by their total assets as of June 30, 2008. This amount of research data and the fact, that the sample includes banks situated on three continents in many different countries, allows the authors to generalize the findings. 5. Analysis 5.1 General Findings The sample of fifty banks consists of the largest financial institutions from North America, Europe and Asia. The biggest group are the European banks. One bank from the sample had to be excluded because its structure differed too much from the other banks and did not fit to the research questions. It was a state-owned bank which was controlled by politicians to a large percentage. Furthermore, for the year 2005, one more bank had to be left out, because it was just created in 2006 by a merger of two smaller banks. To be able to compare the banks, all performance indicators that were stated in different currencies have been converted into Euros with the currency rate of December 31 of each year.6 In table 5.1 general statistical values of the variables are listed. A value that was controlled for in the research was total assets. This was important for detecting if the board size or any of the other independent variables changed with the size of the bank. However, there is no significant relationship between the total assets and the size of the board (see table 5.2). Therefore, it is possible to say, that banks do not decide about the number of directors based on their size measured by total assets. It is rather noticeable that banks with a two-tier board system have larger boards than the other banks. The maximum number of directors came up to 48, when adding up the number of directors in the supervisory and the managing board compared to a minimum of seven board members in a one-tier system bo ard of directors. Table 5.1 Descriptive Statistics years 2005-2007 Samples Minimum Maximum Mean Median Std. Deviation Total Assets (Mio. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬) 146 168,119 2,579,194 732,994 557,269 415,293 Board Size 146 7 48 18.36 17.00 6.92 Board Age (years) 142 49.1 64.70 57.32 57.74 3.44 Women (%) 146 0.00 42.90 10.02 6.8 9.32 Minorities (%) 146 0.00 41.20 3.73 0.00 7.79 Independent Directors (%) 146 0.00 94.10 49.15 50.00 28.80 Share Development cp. to Previous Year (%) 100 -44.75 106.67 14.61 16.90 27.52 ROE (%) 146 -37.90 37.50 14.56 15.35 8.60 ROA (%) 146 -0.30 1.75 0.65 0.59 0.40 Cost/Income Ratio (%) 125 34.70 114.00 58.89 56.00 13.07 Debt-Ratio (%) 146 87.73 98.54 95.31 95.95 2.19 B.I.S Capital (%) 135 8.5 19.70 11.79 11.60 1.72 5.2 Interdependency between the Independent Variables Before checking for the influence of the board composition on performance and risk propensity, the interdependency of the independent variables was evaluated in table 5.2. It is noticeable that many of the factors correlate with each other within the one percent significance level. The strongest correlation exists between the variables board age and percentage of independent directors. It shows that the higher the average age of the directors is the more independent directors are on the board. This leads to the conclusion that outside board members are usually older than executive directors. Another strong significant relationship is shown between the variables board age and board size. This correlation is negative and implies that the average age of the directors decreases when the number of board members increases. The reason for this link could be that the younger board members are introduced into the tasks before the older directors retire. One more noticeable factor is that the percentage of women on the board is positively correlated with the percentage of minorities on the board. This supports the results of Carter et al. in 2002. Furthermore, independent directors correlate significantly positively with women and minorities, which supports the conclusion that female and minority directors usually seem to be outsiders to the bank. An interesting fact is also that minority directors usually seem to be of more importance in smaller boards. The correlation between the board size and the percentage of minorities is slightly negative, which indicates that smaller boards have a higher percentage of ethnic minority directors. Furthermore, it is interesting that the boards of directors of banks do not significantly correlate with their total assets, as mentioned before. However, the board age has a very significant positive correlation with the assets. This implies that larger banks usually have an older board of directors. Besides, those banks also seem to have a slightly higher percentage of independent outside directors as shown by the positive correlation between these two factors. With the high interdependencies between the independent variables, it could come to multicollinearity problems in the regression analyses for the dependent performance and risk indicators. Fortunately, this is not the case as shown by the VIF-values, which are lower than 2.5, in the regression models below. Table 5.2 Correlations between Independent Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 Total Assets a 1 2 Board Size a -.113 1 3 Board Age a .308*** -.403*** 1 4 Women (%) a -.052 .037 -.026 1 5 Minorities (%) a .098 -.176** .254*** .267*** 1 6 Indep. Directors (%) a .208** -.114 .465*** .369*** .308*** 1 *** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) ** Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) a Pearson correlation coefficient 5.3 Influence of Board Composition on Performance Data At the beginning, the correlations of the data from all three years were evaluated together to get a general overview over the connections made between the independent and dependent variables. 5.3.1 Return on Assets When regarding the influence of the board composition on the first performance indicator it is very obvious that ROA is connected to all variables, except for total assets (see table 5.3). The strongest positive correlation exists between the variables return on assets and percentage of independent directors, followed by minorities. A little weaker connection is shown with the percentage of female directors and the board age. The linkages indicate that outsiders or a more divers and experienced board (concerning average

Sustainable Development Essay -- essays research papers

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The long and the short and the tall :: English Literature

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Film Analysis of A Midsummer Night's Dream Michael Hoffman directed William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and it is an enchanting new version of Shakespeare's most magical comedy. It has dangerous potions, fairies and strange romances. It is a tale of a wondrous single night in which wicked spirits turn the world of love on its head. First I have to make it clear that I have never really thought much of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I have always considered it fairly frivolous and not too important in William Shakespeare's career. I really do not know why, it just is what it is. I must say, that Michael Hoffman's William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is a very good film, BUT, it is not for everyone because it is purely Shakespeare updated to 19th Century, Tuscany, Italy where the characters ride around on a new invention, the bicycle. All the magical fairies, tangled romances, Oberon and Puck are all here to bedevil the ill-fated humans, as Puck says, "What fools these mortals be". The movie opens with an interesting effect to show the name of the film, it's quite magical. The opening is interesting but then it bogs down for about 15 minutes and since I was tired I found it a bit of a struggle staying awake, but I did and I was rewarded. I quickly woke up as the scene moved into the woods late at night as the fairy world came to life with interesting, magical creatures. Stanley Tucci plays the mischievous Puck quite well as does Calista Flockheart as Helena, one of the tortured lovers; she nails Helena's love craziness. Christian Bale as Demet rius, Sophie Marceau as Hippolyta and Domenic West as Lysander play the other lovers. Rupert Everett's Oberon has a brooding to him that I have never seen which makes that role work for me in ways it has never before. I personally feel that Michelle Pfeiffer as Titania, the fairy Queen was absolutely beautiful. Kevin Kline as Nick Bottom and Ms.

Cardiovascular Disease Information Essay

Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in over half of the people in this country. It affects all aspects of the heart function, from the arteries that supply the blood to the valves to the heart muscle itself. Heart and blood vessel disease- cardiovascular disease – includes numerous problems, many of which are related to a process called atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a condition that develops when a substance called plaque build up I the walls of the arteries. This buildup narrows the arteries, making it harder for blood to flow through. If a blood lot forms, it can stop the blood flow. This can cause a heart attack or stroke. Some of the symptoms associated with cardiovascular disease are chest pains, sudden numbness of arms or face, strokes or congestive heart failure. Cardiovascular disease can be managed by following a lean strict diet, keeping your cholesterol down, not smoking, maintaining your blood pressure and exercising regularly. It is said that if you exercise for about 30 minutes a day every day, that will keep you healthy and your heart pumping. Congestive Heart Failure refers to a poorly pumping heart that causes a fluid back up in the heart, lungs and other organs. The symptoms are shortness of breath, swelling in the body and debilitating fatigue. It is said that congestive heart failure is the most common cardiac condition among the elderly. Heart failure can start from an unnoticeable condition, which can progress to a debilitating disease. The way to check to see if you have a heart problem is by having an Echocardiogram which monitors your heart and makes sure everything is functioning properly. This disease can also be controlled by maintaining a healthy diet, not smoking, controlling your weight, and following a good exercise regimen. Maintaining your weight is also an important factor.

Back to the Moon

More than thirty years after America’s first landed on the moon, the current President of the United States, George W. Bush, recently announced his plan of sending American astronauts back to the moon (BBC News). The President’s target is to accomplish this goal by the year 2015 (Lane, 2004). The project can be said to be merely preliminary to Bush’s more flamboyant plan, which is to prepare the exploration to Mars. Moreover, the program also intends to make up for the setbacks experienced by the United States space program, such as the Columbia shuttle disaster (BBC News).The Columbia disaster prompted Bush and a group of administration officials to develop a new plan that would use the existing space shuttles to â€Å"complete assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) by 2010† (Lane, 2004). Bush revealed his new vision for the United States human space program in a speech delivered at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) headq uarters. He called for the retirement of the space shuttle to give way for building new space vehicles that would, in the future, allow travel to Mars (Lane, 2004).The space shuttle is expected to fly in about 13 or 14 more missions before its expected retirement in 2010 (Hunt, 2007; BBC News). Bush’s vision also calls for the use of robots and human manpower in the exploration of the moon. The ultimate aim of the vision is to prepare the moon as a living base and to develop means for explorations to Mars (BBC News). The Space Shuttle The space shuttle is a brainchild of improvements and inventions in rocketry. The craft contains three main engines that provide huge amounts of force compared to previous spacecrafts.It also boasts of a reusable engine and engines that weighs quite lightly considering their power (The History of Moon Exploration). Considering its characteristics, it is no wonder that Boeing boasts of it as the â€Å"most sophisticated human-rated launch vehicl e in the history of space flight† (Boeing). The space shuttle had its first flight in 1981, and since then it was able to aid more than a hundred missions involving hundreds of astronauts (Boeing). Boeing claims that the spacecraft still has 75 percent of its design life to spare (Boeing).The space shuttle plays a major role in sustaining the International Space Station, being the ISS’ heavy-lift cargo vehicle. The space shuttle is responsible for having lifted the now existing structure in orbit, which comprises two-thirds of the ISS (Boeing). Bush wants to retire the space shuttle by 2010 at the earliest, hoping that by then the International Space Station is already complete (Hunt, 2007; BBC News). Bush also hopes that by the said time, the Crew Exploration Vehicle already becomes operational (Hunt, 2007; BBC News).However, before such goals are realized and as long as the shuttle remains safe to carry on its tasks, it shall remain as the primary spacecraft aiding th e United States’ projects towards space (Boeing). Picture 2. The Space Shuttle. Photo retrieved March 6, 2007, from www. boeing. com/†¦ / hsfe_shuttle/what_is. html The Crew Exploration Vehicle Bush’s vision is an echo of a similar dream by his father in 1989, which did not come to fruition because the cost estimates ballooned up to $400 billion (Lane, 2004).Working on the premise that the desire to explore is part of human character, Bush said that his dream is to build space vehicles that could travel far beyond the capacity of the space shuttle, which only reaches 386 miles (Lane, 2004). Bush thus announced his plans to develop a new spacecraft called the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). This vehicle would be the first to take man to outer space since the Apollo spaceships (BBC News). The CEV is expected to be a versatile crewed vehicle that could carry American teams in a mission projected to be undertaken in 2014 or 2015.The CEV is expected to begin flight tes ts by the year 2008 (Lane, 2004). The CEV’s look is designed to look similarly with the bullet-like style of the Apollo-style command module (Lane, 2004). Aside from the design, however, NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe says that no design has yet been approved regarding the way of keeping the CEV boosted in the air (Lane, 2004). Robots in Space It is believed by some that robotic exploration is more beneficial than human exploration, since the former is less expensive (The Washington Post Writers Group, 2007).Moreover, Professor Robert Park of the University of Maryland claim that robots have less physical limitations than humans, which means robots have better chances of discovering scientific finds over humans (BBC News). Even other countries that spend resources on space explorations, such as China and Russia, are encouraged to use robots in such ventures (BBC News). There are current efforts using robots in space exploration. Just recently, the United States celebrated th e successful landing of its robot rover Spirit on Mars (BBC News). Budgetary ConstraintsSince the previous space plans formulated by Bush’s father failed because of budgetary constraints (Lane, 2004), Bush is careful to get around the same drawback. Naturally, huge projects such as space explorations would cost loads of money and other resources. Thus, Bush’s ambitious new vision would entail modifications on the current budget of the NASA. The NASA currently has a five-year budget plan. However, Bush requests a $1 billion boost on this budget (Lane, 2004). This means that additional $200 million per year would be allotted for the project (Lane, 2004).This amounts to a 5% yearly increase to NASA’s current budget, which amounts to $15. 4 billion per year (BBC News). A rise of another 1% after the first three years is also requested by the U. S. President (BBC News). It is reported that Bush wants that $11 billion from the existing budget be earmarked for his new vision (Lane, 2004). The exact cost of the vision was not given (BBC News), but one thing is certain: the budget would have to be approved by Congress. (Lane, 2004). The White House, however, maintains that a â€Å"sustained focus over time† would help keep the budget for the exploration in check (Lane, 2004).There is also a need to reorient the current programs of NASA, so that NASA would not exceed its current spending, which only amounts to less than 1 percent of the federal budget, despite the additional goal (Lane, 2004). The Orion Currently, a ship has been built to carry humans to the moon. This spacecraft, called the Orion, is scheduled to debut in 2014 (Hunt, 2007). However, budgetary constraints will cause a delay of about four to six months. The Orion is now set to fly in 2015 (Hunt, 2007).NASA administrator Michael Griffin stated that Congress only approved the amount in NASA’s budget in 2006, which means that the approved budget is $545 million short of Bu sh’s request (Hunt, 2007). NASA does not welcome this lack of funding and the concomitant delay in the project, as strategic and practical concerns such as the degradation of equipment and facilities, besiege the institution (Hunt, 2007). A Brief History of Explorations to the Moon A brief review of the development of moon exploration is in order, so that a clear perspective can be had as to the propriety and utility of Bush’s proposed space exploration.Chinese astronomers were perhaps the first people to notice the Moon. For thousands of years, man has been captivated by the Moon, and man’s curiosity for it has been first assuaged by the invention of the telescope in 1609 (The History of Moon Exploration). The telescope, invented by Leppershey, made thorough observations possible despite the immense distance between the Earth and the Moon (The History of Moon Exploration). However, this invention was a double-edged sword: man developed an even more intense curi osity for the moon, leading man to dream of someday setting foot on the distant place (The History of Moon Exploration).Because of the enormous distance of the Moon from the Earth, reaching it would only be possible through flight. Unfortunately, air transportation took quite a while to be fully developed. The groundbreaking invention of the Wright brothers can be considered the first step towards space travel, because they invented the aeroplane, which allowed man to fly (The History of Moon Exploration). In 1943, another milestone in space exploration occurred with the development of rocketry by Von Braun. Braun was responsible for the A 4, which was the first successful ballistic rocket (The History of Moon Exploration).Despite the United States’ exposure to the latest technology at the time, such as the rocketry of Braun, it was Russia that made one of the most significant developments in space exploration. 1957 witnessed the launch of Sputnik I, which was the first artif icial satellite in space (The History of Moon Exploration). Russia was also the first to take pictures of the Moon. In 1959, its Luna satellites were able to obtain pictures of the far side of the Moon (The History of Moon Exploration). In 1963, the United States followed in the affair of obtaining pictures in space.Its Mariner Series satellites were able to acquire detailed pictures of Venus, and a year later, of Mars (The History of Moon Exploration). Saturn rockers were the next to be developed by the United States; these rockets were later used to power the Apollo Missions (The History of Moon Exploration). The country also ventured into designing moon landing vehicles, and was successful with Surveyor 6 and the Lunar Module, which proved that rocketry could bring man to the Moon (The History of Moon Exploration).The United States is also responsible for the Command and Service Module, a vehicle designed for the trip back to Earth from the Moon (The History of Moon Exploration). Man’s First Walk on the Moon The United States has the credit for sending the first man to walk on the Moon. On 21 July 1969, the whole world watched in awe as clips of Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the Moon were aired in international television (BBC News). The video clips were taken by television cameras installed on the Eagle landing craft (BBC News).

PP0126 Learning Arena As A Learning E Essay

Medical Assistant profession is only known in Malaysia. It is part of the medical profession creates by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia in the sixties to overcome the shortage of medical officer in the country. We need to go through three years training program conducted by our Ministry of Health in order to be a qualified as a Medical Assistant. My speciality is in Emergency and Trauma care management, with sixteen years working experiences in the Emergency Department (ETD) and currently attached to the ETD in one of the hospital located in central region. In this assignment I will discuss and explore how practice arena can assist in learning as well to identify the learning opportunity available for learners and how I integrate my professional role to develop health care profession competency. My focus will be on the factors of physical and social climate and how does it affect learning in my practice arena. Based on the theories of humanism and Androgogy compare with the concept suggested in the literature, I will come with my recommendation on how I am going to promote my practice arena into a more conducive learning environment. There are few factors or element that can affect or influence learning environment. The most important elements are physical environment, social climate and learning opportunities (Ministry of Health Malaysia, 2006) that I am focusing now. Discussing about the physical element, resources are among thing that we should considered within the placement. Ileris (2011) claimed the variety of opportunity and situation offer to learners is the most significant factors influencing the quality of practice arena as 1 learning environment. He further quotes that difference type of workplace offer different  learning environment with different learning opportunity. The emergency and trauma department or my practice arena cover one whole block and the facilities and services available encompassing a wide range of emergent trauma and non trauma condition, from the critically ill or severely injured to those with minor ailment. The scope include pre hospital care services, resuscitation and stabilisation, diagnosis and definitive care management, one stop crisis centre and medical coverage. The facilities available are dividing into zone ranging from a critical to  a non critical zone where patient management are triage according to the severity of illness. There are three main zones, one observation bay equipped with 5 beds, a procedure room for minor surgical procedures and a sterilisation unit for collecting and receiving sterile item from the central sterilisation department. Each zone or treatment areas are equipped with standard equipment for it functionalities inclusive of an emergency trolley, cardiac monitor and defibrillators, portable ventilators and airway management, radiography machine, ultra sound machine, electrocardiogram,  refrigerator and blood analyser machine. It provide a wide range of learning opportunity to learners and students to develops their skills ,knowledge and understanding of the role and function with the organisation( Evan et. al, 2006). However all these equipment needs speciality and skills to be operates and 2 learners need period of time to get familiar with the equipment. The department need to send learners for user training and courses before they can handle the machine. My practice arena is amongst the busiest place in the hospital compound. Even worse  when facing the incidence of mass casualties where every staffs busy with their own task. However it doesn’t mean that they have no time with the learner. They are actually a good role model for learner where they can work and learn at the same time. They are willing to shares their working experience, skills, knowledge and ideas with student or learners even though they are very with their tasks. In fact chaotic working environment is rich for learning because of large volume of patient of varying acuity and learner will take responsibility of their own learning, identifying gap in knowledge, seeing feedback  and working toward closing these gap. (Goldman et. al, 2009) Every zone is fully air conditioning and furnished with patient’s beds, trolleys and wheelchairs. We also have an access to internet and intranet where Learners will have the opportunity to access the heath information system, interaction between the instructors and as well among learners as it is the key point for good practice and learning expectation for each area (Severs and Pearson, 1999), (Ileris, 2011). But there are limitations as some of the equipment and facilities only can be use by professional  and expert and the use of internet has been block by the management from being access in an improper way and only involved with certain website, this may lead to frustration and conflict to extensive use in workplace learning (Ileris, 2011). We also 3 have teaching room or a seminar room with selection of books, journal and handout available which is accessible to learners. Apart from the facilities above my placement arena also have 2 unit of type A, 3 unit of type B and 5 unit of type C ambulances. They are all equipped with standard equipment and also link by the radio communication services. In order to be part of the ambulance services team, learner need to undergo basic training on the basic equipment available inside the ambulance and how to use radio communication system. They are attached with qualified personnel as a mentor who is in charge of the ambulance services. For the convenience of every staffs, student and even public, my placement arena offer excellent facilities such as rest room with television set, tea room and pantry, accessible wash room and toilet, emergency fire exit with fire extinguisher and waiting area provided with chairs and queue number system. Quinn (2007) states that this basic needs make learner feel secure and comfortable and enable them to concentrate in their learning. Nevertheless my placement area doesn’t have any skill laboratory where student can practice their skills and knowledge. However the higher management has planned to set it up in few years time for the benefit of all parties. 4 My practice arena offer a placement for student nurses, newly graduates medical assistant and medical students doing their internships and housemanship program from the nearby colleges and higher institution. In fact the facilities has been gazetted as one  of the teaching hospital by the government and the Ministry of Health Malaysia as a whole. Learners and student will need to be introduced to the new environment to get them off to a good start by establishing a sense of belonging, creating a welcoming learning environment, supplying information that will answer their question and removing any uncertainties once they reporting themselves for the placement. Gopee (2008) stated this as an essential and effective when new experience are linked to prior knowledge where it begin with familiarisation with the clinical setting, clinical specialism,  get to know with mentor and staffs and feeling that they are part of the team inorder to meet the learning needs and achievement of their practice objective. The availability of the multidisciplinary staffs ranging from the higher level management and clinician to a well trained paramedics (Goppe, 2008) form the basis of inter- professional learning and will be an advantage for the student to learned and adopted as their role model and mentors. West et. al (2007) highlight that the practice is not only the environment where services is delivered to client but also a learning area where  future and qualified practioner continually utilise the opportunity provide to them as an experience to facilitate their professional development. 5 It is an effort of every personnel to create the practice arena into an interesting and conducive place to learn. Fox (2009) describe learning environment as a place or setting where learning occur. This include physical setting, interpersonal and instructional characteristic that influence learner’s performance. The nature of learning environment is important in establishing an expansive learning area (Evan et. al, 2006)  but sometime it is difficult to achieve as to some leader it is not a priority and therefore there must be a balance against priority in order to improve learning. Hand(2006) suggest that placement should be of higher quality accompanied by improved teaching support to help student gain better practical skills. But a high standard ward with rigid task allocation, with hierarchical system exist are unlikely to meet student learning needs (Fretwell, 1980) Relationship between manager and subordinates and vice versa is another important aspect of social climate in learning environment. Hand (2006) stated that mutual respect, integrated and valued student, manager’s commitment, interactive communication, motivated employers, supportiveness and openness are among the element that contributing to a conducive learning environment. Chan (2001) highlight that inter personnel relationship between staffs are crucial in order to develop a positive learning environment. Hand (2006) described the relationship between teacher and learner must be genuine, non- threatening, lasting relationship and encourage learner to give feedback in order to promote learning and Nolan (1998) found out that learning  desire will reduce without supportive from learning arena. 6 My unit manager is very supportive and committed person, caring attitude and openness especially toward professional development, friendly, approachable and knowledgeable. He motivates the staffs by sending them for courses, workshops and seminar to upgrade their skills and knowledge, counselling and indirectly benefit student placement in the areas. I believe he is a role model in my placement areas. The success and fall of the placement as a conducive learning arena depend on the management, leadership style and the relationship which exist between the people, the  manager and the goals in the organisation (Weir et. al, 2010). Inorder to develop a positive learning environment, there must be a positive management style and interpersonal relationship among manager, staffs and learner. Fretwell (1988), Pembrey (1988) described ward manager as a key figure in the organisation in establishing and maintaining a ward atmosphere conducive learning environment and patient care environment as well. Practice area learning are mostly student centred learning where learner and student needs to participates and involve themselves in the activities design in the practice  area. Self awareness is therefore very important and Cook (1999), mention that many nurses educationist are focused on self awareness to get the learning opportunity in the practice area. In this way student are able to make judgement of their own and identify their strength and weakness in consistent to andragogy approach as self assessment which help them to develop awareness of their own standard of practice (Chambers, 1998). This can be in the form of formal and informal learning activities. In my placement area, student or learners will have the opportunity to involve themselves in  7 discussion, case presentation, in house courses and continuous medical education which is plan weekly for every qualified personnel. For pre registration student this is a good chance to get new ideas, knowledge and skills and for post registration it is professional refreshment. Spouse (2001) clarified that knowledge quickly become outdated as rapid pace of technology and to be more effective this continuous professional development should be carried out under the guidance of experience and knowledgeable colleagues with the evidence of attendances. The collaboration of one  department with other organisation and between unit and section in the department should be considered as one of the factors that influencing the provision of good experience within the placement. This is because exchange and sharing of ideas between these two different organisations happened to achieve the same goal. We have been discussed many factors influencing learning in my practice setting such as physical environment, social climate and learning opportunities available in my practice setting and this will definitely give a better output toward learning environment  in the placement arena. Although I have identified many of the learning opportunities but there are some limitation on the implementation especially on the resources. I have made some recommendation to be bringing forward to improve the placement arena in future. I believe that this can be fulfils if the higher level management, training institution, mentors as well learners themselves is really committed to make changes toward the excellence learning environment. To make the process going smoothly everybody should take parts and plays their role accordingly.