Reflection on Leadership, Communication and Teamwork

Reflection on Leadership, Communication and Teamwork 1.0 Introduction Complexities in assignments and projects have facilitated the adoption of team approaches to problem solving. In many learning institutions and places of work, team approach has led to different people being brought together in order to benefit from their varying but combined experience and manpower. Studies by Pokras (2002) have revealed that team members perform to their best standards if a common target or goal had been readily identified before the formation of the team. Identification of the common goal in initial stages is the key to team success since every team has its own defined roadmap for achieving the identified goal. Achievement of the target also involves each team member identifying his role in the team and doing his best to achieve it. Team members are likely to encounter challenges when working on achieving their common goals. To ensure success in their teams, they need to understand overall issues that affect the performance of their members. In line with the above, this written report seeks to reflect on the overall team experience as was displayed by Team 4 members when they undertook tutorial preparation and tutorial discussion assignments. The report identified the observations on team experience; dynamics and development. The varying characteristics of Team 4 members were also noted and are also described in this report. The report goes ahead to link the observations of Team 4 members to the various academic theories on team experience. Secondary literatures addressing team experience themes are consulted for the proposed academic theories. The report then concludes with reasons on why Team 4 experiences were as observed and noted. Recommendations are the provided on how best Team 4 members can improve their future team spirits and experiences. It is our desire that any team reading this report will find it interesting and valuable for their future use. 2.0 Observations of Team Experience As the name suggests, Team 4 was constituted by 4 members; 1 female and 3 males. To hold each member accountable on his/her role in the group, Team 4 members decided to nickname each member. As such, the following members made up Team 4; Member 1, Member 2, Member and Member 4. The observations below have adopted this naming. During their first meeting, Team 4 members unanimously agreed on the use of face to face, Skype, and mobile phone services of voice and short messaging services (sms) as avenues of carrying out the discussion. Amongst the 3, face to face communication was the most frequently used method of carrying out the team work since members consented to the idea that immediate feedbacks were easily passed between them when using this method. Most observations were therefore noted during the face to face sessions. The overall rating for the observations made can be summarised as 70% positive and 30% negative. The following is a presentation of some of the major observations as displayed by Team 4 members. The presentation involved identification of key variables and the observations made on members. 2.1 Leadership Roles Though it was earlier on agreed that leadership role at Team 4 was to rotational, it was observed that some members feared the responsibility of assuming leadership roles when it came to their turns. The creation of the tutorials for presentation in class called for each team member to assume a leadership role on a rotational basis. This was considered key to success of any team since each team was to be later on required to successfully present their tutorials before the class. The presentations required every member of the group to take a leadership role at the time of presentation and therefore the reluctance by Member 2 and Member 4 to assume leadership roles caused a lot of worries to Member 1 and Member 3 since it was projected that it would impact negatively on the overall performance of Team 4. During the initial meetings, Members 2 and 4 would faithfully request any of their colleagues to volunteer by taking up the leadership roles on their behalf. Reasons put forward in the ir defence were that they deemed themselves less skilled when it came to creating slides and providing the logical structure upon which discussion topics were to be handled. One member, Member 2, was even bold enough to state before the other members that he lacked the courage to articulate issues before a group of people. To correct on this, Members 1 and 3 had to assume guidance and encouragement roles. In encouraging the two to improve on their courage, Members 1 and 3 borrowed Topchik (2007) motivational quote that called on fearful people to focus on by speaking up and listening openly for them to built trust (p.10). As time wore on and more meetings were held, Members 2 and 4 were able to develop their courage and lead the discussions to the best of their understanding. They could usher in members to give out their suggestions as well as interrupt them to allow their colleagues to seek clarifications in areas where they felt dissatisfied. 2.2 Knowledge on Topics Discussed It was observed that the four members experienced variations when it came to understanding the topics under discussion. For instance, in one session Member 1 emerged as the most knowledgeable in identifying and linking the relationships between various sub-topics. In the succeeding session, Member 3 assumed this role. These variations helped the sharing of knowledge amongst Team 4 members. 2.3 Contributing Towards Discussion Topics Though Members 2 and 4 had initially shown fearful factors, it was observed that all Team 4 members took an active role in contributing towards topics at hand. Everybody would seek an opportunity to express his ideas, and his colleagues would either agree or disagree on the particular members points. 2.4 Conflicts and Disagreements As every member became active in the discussions, it was observed that Team 4 members could not hold to each others opinions and wishes. A practical case emerged one Saturday when Member 1 proposed and insisted that every member was to present to the class the section which he or she oversaw as the leader of the team. In sticking to his view, Member 1 claimed that it was common sense that as a leader of the session, each leader stood a better chance of presenting the section to the class. However, his colleagues completely objected to his opinion on the view that teamwork and team spirit called on all members to have an even understanding of all the issues discussed by the team, and as such, each had an equal understanding of the sections. To them, anyone could comfortably present any section. The disagreement arising from this varied opinions boiled to the extent that all members had to unanimously agree to call off the session to avoid on the impending physical fights. However, on a positive note, Member 1 had to drop his hard line stance and adopt other members suggested random selection. 2.5 On the Issue of Time It was observed that members attended to sessions on time. Only one chance of late arrival was observed when Member 3 arrived 30 minutes late into the discussion. However, she had written a phone message to every member of the team to inform them of her late arrival since she was held up on traffic at the time of the meeting. 3.0 Theoretical Evaluation Institutions of learning and business organizations have continued with their adopted norm of using team approach as the tool for achieving specific tasks. Teams continue to gain increasing attention as potentially important organization assets (Zayed and Kamel, 2005, p.1). The increased adoption of team approach or team experience across these institutions has called for the need to provide information on the themes and dynamics involved in teamwork to help them achieve or attain their set targets. These may include amongst others; 3.1 Definition of Teams Teams are groups of individuals who accomplish designated objectives by working independently, communicating effectively, and making decisions that affect their work (Topchik 2007, p.7). On their part, Zayed and Kamel (2005) defined teams as two or more independent individuals who interact with and influence one another in order to accomplish a common purpose (p.1). From his research, Pokras (2002) summarised team chemistry as consisting of the following three parts; communication, consensus and contracting (11). From the definitions above it can be deduced that Team 4 comprised of the four individuals who worked to achieve a common goal of preparing tutorials on selected topics for presentation. They interacted through face to face, Skype or messaging and talking on phone. Zayed and kamel (2005) noted that many people across business fields had come to replace the term group with team. To such people, the two words mean the same and can therefore be used interchangeably. 3.2 Succeeding as a Team: Levels Involved The joining together of members to form a team does not guarantee the success of the particular team. The formation stage may bring together quiet, cautious or tentative members who may take a while before starting to go through the storming stage (Zayed Kamel, 2005, p.10). The storming process may involve team members studying each others tensions, differences as well as conflicts. After learning of members characteristics, team members advance into the second stage where they actively concentrate on solving their problems. Teams achieve their goals when members start interacting smoothly. At this level, each member is energetic, dynamic and productive leading to the team attaining success by achieving their set common goal. 3.3 Characteristics of a Good Team According to RIC Publishers (2003), good team members listen to each other, cooperate, have clear team goals and allow each member to freely express his or her opinions (p.24). On his part, Topchik (2007) went on to postulate that best team experiences had roles of each member clearly defined, had members who were open and honest in communication, had a supportive and knowledgeable manager, allowed members to freely make decisions and rewarded or recognized its members when they successfully achieved its goals (p.6). 4.0 Conclusion Though little disagreements were observed in Team 4s meeting sessions, the team successfully achieved its goal of creating presentation tutorials. This was reflected in the comprehensive and detailed tutorials that were successfully presented to the class on the presentation day. The ability of the all Team 4 members to respond confidently and accurately presentation questions also contributed in highlighting the teams success. In assessing the hard line stands taken by some team members, it was concluded that the decision by the teacher not to give due attention to members characteristics at the time of forming the teams may have played a facilitation role. As Topchick (2007) notes, when forming a team, the individuals skills, knowledge and experience should constitute the number one criteria for team membership (p10). 5.0 Recommendation Best on Team 4s achieved results; the following recommendations stand to be made. Team 4 members should learn the importance of recognizing each others contributions. This makes every team member to feel that his/her work is very meaningful and important. As such more contributions are likely to be forwarded by the motivated team members. The rotational team leaders should know that their leadership roles involve coordinating member activities. They should therefore not get discouraged or shy away from assuming these leadership roles based on their inferiority complex. Drawing from Dan and Lane (2008) works, team members who initially declined to take up their leadership roles are informed that effective team leaders are tasked with enabling everyone to contribute their unique skills (p.307). Members should be in a position to accommodate the views of other members by dropping their hard line stands. Team works are intended to avail avenues for their colleagues to share their opinions and arrive at common stands. Lastly and as Exley and Dennick (2004) opine, in cases where members are handling complex topics, several discussion sessions should be created to help members to research more on the topic at hand. This will help them to develop and accumulate knowledge on these topics.

Is Medical Testing On Animals Ethical :: essays research papers

Every year, nearly one hundred million animals die in research laboratories at the hands of curious scientists who perform outdated and inaccurate tests that prove no benefit to humans or animals. I believe vivisection, medical testing on animals, should be banned.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Before these animals die they are routinely burned, scalded, poisoned, starved, given electric shocks, and deliberately inflicted with deadly diseases. Their eyes are surgically removed, and their brains and spinal cords are damaged; this is completed without any kind of anesthesia. Despite all of this cruelty, not a single disease has been cured through vivisection in this century. The overall cancer rate has risen in the past forty years, and a fatal heart attack strikes a person every forty-five seconds. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimate that seventy to eighty percent of the common diseases killing Americans can be prevented by a responsible lifestyle and diet. Drug testing on animals is not accurate and has no advantage to animals or people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Animals including dogs, cats, mice, pigs, monkeys, horses, deer, and cattle are commonly used for these senseless experimentations. The other remaining misfortunate animals come from places a little closer to you and me. Some of them come from animal shelters, some from the “free to a good home'; ads in the newspaper, or, even worse, some have been stolen directly from their own yard. Imagine your pet being crammed into a cage with ten other animals waiting to die in these cruel and heartless experiments.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The current system of drug testing places consumers in a dangerous predicament. For example, some drugs passed safe in animal experiments but proved tragic consequences in humans. Conversely, many drugs that are beneficial to humans are dangerous or even fatal to animals. This is obvious proof that testing on animals is unreliable, but sadistic tests still go on every day.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If animal experimentation was eliminated, it could save up to 6.8 billion dollars. This money could be used for medical assistance programs for low-income individuals, helping the many Americans who can not afford insurance, rather than killing animals or making them sick.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There will be nearly 275 thousand animals dead this time tomorrow that were not dead right now.

Alcoholism: a Menace to the Society Essay

Filipinos love to drink alcoholic beverages, that is. Drinking sessions are seen almost everywhere everyday along the streets and sidewalks, inside homes, in carinderia and corner sari-sari store, and even the upmarket bars and bistros. So phenomenal has been the â€Å"tumahan† tradition that it became the undisputed national pastime and social culture of Filipinos. While local folks’ love for drinking session might have built many a friendship and warm the cockles of good ole acquaintances, it is, at the same, taking toll on the drinkers’ health. Alcoholism, also called alcohol dependence or alcohol addiction, is a destructive pattern of alcohol use that includes tolerance to or withdrawal from the substance, using more alcohol or using it for longer than planned, and trouble reducing its use. Other potential symptoms include spending an inordinate amount of time getting, using, or recovering from the use of alcohol, compromised functioning, and/or continuing to use alcohol despite an awareness of the detrimental effects it is having on one’s life. Alcoholism is appropriately considered a disease rather than a weakness of character or chosen pattern of bad behavior. Many persons have become addicted to alcohol. It undoubtedly has something to do with the euphoric quality of alcohol and the resultant high. According to Vern Mason, â€Å"it is amazing how many kinds of alcohol can come out of the same bottle. It all depends who’s drinking it†. There are basically two types of drinkers who may become alcoholic. Some become chronic alcoholics from the outset almost, steadily drinking larger amounts everyday. Others may drink socially or the binge drinkers on weekends. They sort of steadily increase their drinking. The end result is the same, alcoholism. The damaging effect of alcohol stands among the leading public health problems in the world. It deserves personal concern and national action if we are to remain sober and responsible people. Alcohol abuse is a disease that is characterized by the sufferer having a pattern of drinking excessively despite the negative effects of alcohol on the individual’s work, medical, legal, educational, and/or social life. Alcohol abuse affects about 10% of women and 20% of men in the United States, most beginning by their mid teens. Signs of alcohol intoxication include the smell of alcohol on the breath or skin, glazed or bloodshot eyes, the person being unusually passive or argumentative, and/or a deterioration in the person’s appearance or hygiene. Almost 2,000 people under 21 years of age die each year in car crashes in which underage drinking is involved. Alcohol is involved in nearly half of all violent deaths involving teens. Alcoholism is a destructive pattern of alcohol use that includes a number of symptoms, including tolerance to or withdrawal from the substance, using more alcohol and/or for a longer time than planned, and trouble reducing its use. Alcohol, especially when consumed in excess, can affect teens, women, men, and the elderly quite differently. Risk factors for developing a drinking problem include low self-esteem, depression, anxiety or another mood problem, as well as having parents with alcoholism. Alcohol dependence has no one single cause and is not directly passed from one generation to another genetically. Rather, it is the result of a complex group of genetic, psychological, and environmental factors. There is no one test that definitively indicates that someone has an alcohol-use disorder. Therefore, health-care practitioners diagnose these disorders by gathering comprehensive medical, family, and mental-health information. Alcohol use increases medical risks. Alcohol seriously interacts with a number of drugs as well as several other medications by either increasing their potency or decreasing their effectiveness. Alcohol also prolongs the length of recovery after anesthesia. (Modern Medicine, pp. 160-165) Some signs of a drinking problem include drinking alone, to escape problems, or for the sole purpose of getting drunk; hiding alcohol in odd places; getting irritated when you are unable to obtain alcohol to drink; and having problems because of your drinking. According to the research of Aileen Ludington and Hans Diehl, alcohol greatly affects the human body: Your brain. Alcohol, even in small amounts, causes irreparable damage to brain cells; some die and others are altered. Your heart. Alcohol increases the risk of hypertension, stroke, and damage to the heart muscle. Your lungs. Alcohol depresses respiratory functions. Your reproductive system. In men, alcohol can damage cells in the testes, causing impotence, sterility, and possibly enlarged breasts. In women, alcohol can cause irregular menstrual cycles and malfunctioning of the ovaries. Alcohol has also been linked to birth defects in infants and to fetal alcohol syndrome. Your liver. Because your liver must filter alcohol from the blood, alcohol affects it more than any other organ of your body. Excess calories in alcohol are stored as fat in the liver. Functioning liver cells die from alcoholic poisoning. Scar tissue replaces dead cells, causing cirrhosis. Your immune system. Alcohol weakens the body’s defense against infection and breast cancer. Therefore, I conclude that alcoholism is a disease found in every social and economic class, in every country in the world. The problem is stinging: an alcoholic cannot control the amount he or she drinks; occasional drinkers may dive into the alcohol problem with little control on those little drinking bout. In learning that alcoholism is an illness, a child is provided with a cognitive means by which to understand a confusing, often traumatizing, emotional experience. This could range from a simple conceptualization to a more empathetic understanding of his or her parent. Relabeling the parent’s behavior helps the child feel less out of control. Learning that it is an illness not caused by the child also to helps to improve the child’s reality-testing and reduces anxiety, anger, and guilt. (National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. â€Å"Underage Drinking. † Alcohol Alert 67 Jan. 2006. ) Trusted adults, clergymen or guidance counselors are worthy ones to be sought for advice. The important thing is to reach out. And if you’re ashamed of your family, try not to be. Many people understand that alcoholism is a disease, you needn’t let shame burden you. Diverting your attention, being preoccupied with worthwhile activities can do a lot to your nerves.

Quality Costs for Consideration Essay

Our firm is the producer of tangible products. We, as a company, must ensure that we are delivering the highest quality products to our customers to maintain a quality reputation and in order to earn repeat and referral business. We have identified the three types of costs associated with the implementation of quality considerations. We believe that if we are mindful of the following costs our quality will improve, our customer satisfaction will improve and our business will prosper. The three types of costs associated with quality considerations are prevention costs, appraisal costs, internal and external failure costs. Prevention costs are the most effective way to avoid unnecessary problems with production and sales quality. These costs are defined as any steps we as a company can take to pre-emptively avoid any future defects by providing our employees with things such as, proper tools to complete their assigned work, safe and proper working conditions, proper and effective train ing of all new employees and continual training and education for all existing employees, and by implementing quality control systems to ensure all products produced are up to the company’s and customer’s quality standards. Appraisal costs are the costs associated with the testing and inspection of purchased materials used in the productions process, inspection of the items the company is producing, checking items produced for conformance, quality control audits and field testing of items produced and the cost of the labor associated with all of these items. These costs are ultimately the quality costs resulting from quality control and while they may be high in numbers but are imperative during the manufacturing and production processes. Internal failure costs are the costs that we would incur should we fail to meet the quality standards of the products we produce. These costs encompass everything from the manufacturing of a defective product to the downtime resulting from a quality assurance problem. Scrap materials, defective and rejected products are some example of internal failure costs incurred from a lack of quality assurance. External failure costs are the result of internal failure costs that somehow escape recognition and end up with our customers. These costs are warranty repairs and replacements, lawsuits from defective or dangerous products, a loss of referral and repeat business as a result of a battered reputation and any recalls the company may have to endure because of faulty quality assurance; these costs will inevitably cause the most damage as our defective products have reached the product and that is where the problem is realized. The time, money and effort needed to overcome an external failure cost is astronomical and can even become a threat to the company’s very existence. An evaluation of these costs allows us to analyze the trade-offs for each and why it is so important for us, as a company, to maintain high quality control standards. Preventative costs may be substantial to the company during the initial implementation period because the company may have to update equipment or hire appropriate training managers for our employees but we believe that if we implement these preventative measures the benefits will far outweigh the costs for the company. The tradeoffs if we decide not to take preventative measures we will be opening our processes up for internal failure which will result in lost time, wasted product and unhappy customers from late deliveries. We believe this cost will affect our employee’s morale and increase our costs overall for the reasons stated above which will deteriorate our margin. Appraisal costs may be numerous in the manufacturing industry and during the production process but the tradeoff for not implementing these appraisal costs is far too great to accept from a cost, benefit perspective. The tradeoffs for not implementing these costs are the use of bad raw materials during production resulting in poorly produced items, products that are not uniformly produced defective products which will ultimately be returned or worse cause harm to the distributor or even customer. We would lose business, lose referrals and possibly even lose suppliers if we do not implement appraisal procedures and we, as a company cannot afford liabilities that would be a direct tradeoff for not implementing appraisal costs. Internal and external costs, we believe, can be the end of the company if we do not take preventative action now. We leave ourselves open for litigation from faulty products that reached our customers and were injured, the cost of recalling faulty merchandise which requires us to pay for shipping and to replace any defective product that we sold. We also open ourselves up for public ridicule and loss of repeat and referral business from a battered reputation. For all these reasons we believe that the company needs to act now to implement a quality control system, implement preventative measures starting at the training phase of our new employees and monitor our output carefully by auditing our processes and products regularly to help us avoid internal failure and external failure costs as a company.

Free Essays on Floppy Drive Memory

, they are low costing and are able to work on all computers. In its design, the floppy disk is similar to the hard drive; it operates on the principles of magnetic recording. It uses magnetic heads for data storage and retrieval from the rotating magnetic media. The main differences are in the quality of the media, with much lower magnetic performance for the floppy; and the low rotational speed of the disk, which is about 300 rotations per minute. Another difference is continuous contact between two spring-loaded sliders. Eventually the contact between the two will wear out and the media will get damaged or destroyed. Today’s hard drives already show some level of slider-disk interference at much higher velocities that are beyond 7500 rpm. The history of floppy drives started when the first 8-inch floppy drive was introduced in 1970. It was then replaced by the 5.25-inch drive in 1976. In 1980, the 5.25-inch drive was also replaced by the 3.5-inch â€Å"micro-floppy† (Geek.com). As time went by, the floppy drive got smaller while the memory of it grew larger. The 3.5-inch floppy drive was single-headed and had a storage capacity of 322 KB (Geek.com). The disk was protected by a hard plasti... Free Essays on Floppy Drive Memory Free Essays on Floppy Drive Memory Floppy drives have been around for a long time; in the past they were used for playing elementary, computer games, storaging important information, and were used as a PC’s main memory. The capacity and data transfer rates of floppy drives have extremely low levels, which are 1.44 MB and about 0.06 MB/sec (PC Mechanic). These parameters could be improved considerably with floppy drives out there, however it is too late to change standards now since the technology is worldwide. Today the only two functions left for the floppy disks are serving as boot disks in the case of system problems on your computer, and serving as movable storage. The main advantage of floppy disks is still low cost and universal compatibility. In other words, they are low costing and are able to work on all computers. In its design, the floppy disk is similar to the hard drive; it operates on the principles of magnetic recording. It uses magnetic heads for data storage and retrieval from the rotating magnetic media. The main differences are in the quality of the media, with much lower magnetic performance for the floppy; and the low rotational speed of the disk, which is about 300 rotations per minute. Another difference is continuous contact between two spring-loaded sliders. Eventually the contact between the two will wear out and the media will get damaged or destroyed. Today’s hard drives already show some level of slider-disk interference at much higher velocities that are beyond 7500 rpm. The history of floppy drives started when the first 8-inch floppy drive was introduced in 1970. It was then replaced by the 5.25-inch drive in 1976. In 1980, the 5.25-inch drive was also replaced by the 3.5-inch â€Å"micro-floppy† (Geek.com). As time went by, the floppy drive got smaller while the memory of it grew larger. The 3.5-inch floppy drive was single-headed and had a storage capacity of 322 KB (Geek.com). The disk was protected by a hard plasti...

CONSTITUTIONAL Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

CONSTITUTIONAL - Term Paper Example The argument currently focus on changing the appointment criteria, composition and functioning method of the chamber. Some changes have been made but still there are major issue to be reformed in order to make the house more presentable. â€Å"The attempt to make changes in the house have never been successful due to the conflicts and debates existing among the political members†(Carmichael,1999)Initiative efforts from Labour government in 1968 proved to be a failure due to their radical nature and after that no actions were taken till 1997.Recent actions are towards the establishment of Independent commission for the appointment of members who are not from any party. Removal of hereditary peers is the main focus of the reform which is to be taking place in the near future. â€Å" Thus, the latest reform initiatives remain not only incomplete but contentious, and an ongoing, dynamic aspect of the political debate that is taking place in Britain today†(Robertson,2009) Th e peers in the house attend the house without any intention of taking interest in the political or internal issue of the country. They treat the house a s place of leisure activity and attend with least attentiveness and concern. The number of peers in the house should be minimized in order to reduce the cost of maintaining the house and congestion in the space. Since there are enormous number of members from house of commons who are more or less inactive ,abolishing of peers can bring in some positive changes. Many of them take allowances for attending the house and enjoy other priviliges for no serious reasons. It would be very useful for the country if the peerage system is abolished and new productive members are allowed to join the house of lords. Answer to question two In the UK the Executive otherwise the government has the right on making and implementing policies and laws in order to take care of the issue concerning the country. Parliament and government take active part i n formulating the laws of England. They being separate bodies, have to work hand in hand for the welfare of the country. â€Å" Parliament is the highest legislative authority in the UK. It has responsibility for checking the work of government and examining, debating and approving new laws. It is also known as the Legislature†(parliament). An MP can be a party member but this does not imply that they are operate in the government .Since the Executive and Parliament work together ,it can be very well said that the scrutiny of the government is one the six important functions of the House of Commons. The MPs have the obligation of attending the House of commons everyday and debate on policies, bills and issues It is a common fact that the MPs mostly disagree to the government policies and there exists an unequal power struggle between the MPs and Executive. But seeing the practice of House of commons which is very weak it cannot be agreeable to say that the scrutiny of governm ent illustrates the disparities between the MP and executive. â€Å"The lack of power of backbenchers in determining what the House debated and in controlling the House’s activities was a source of frustration during the last Parliament.  (Parliamnent) The House of Commons perform scrutiny by means of â€Å"Question time† which gives chance for each member to ask questions to the cabinet ministers and Prime minister. But this is activity is not efficient enough to evaluate the

Chinese Yuan vs. US Dollar Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Chinese Yuan vs. US Dollar - Essay Example The use of the two currencies in trade began in 1985 on a bilateral arrangement between the two countries. In 2008, the volume of imports from China hit the $337.8 billion mark. The China government has increased the use of the Yuan in foreign trade over the years leading dynamism in its exchange rates with other world currencies. According to economists, the China government is suspected to devalue the currency in order to increase the competitiveness of their local industries. In addition, the Chinese Yuan is less flexible with respect to the exchange rate against the US dollar and other world currencies. An effort to increase the flexibility of the Chinese Yuan by the government has resulted to the use of the currency internationally. The objective is increasing the use of the currency and achieving its use as a reserve currency in the long term (Derosa 2011). The last five financial years indicate a relatively stable exchange rate between the Chinese Yuan (CNY) and the US dollar (USD). The table below indicates the official exchange rates posted in the two countries’ markets. The record shows how much one US dollar is equivalent to the Chinese Yuan Year USD Chinese Yuan 2009 1 6.8314 2010 1 6.7703 2011 1 6.4615 2012 1 6.3123 2013 1 6.1910 Since 2009 to date, the value of the Chinese Yuan has been increasing. ... changes in the exchange rate can be attributed to the control efforts of the Chinese Yuan flexibility in the exchange market by the Chinese government (Exchange-Rates.org 2013). From 2005 to 2008, the Chinese government allowed the appreciation of the dollar to 21%. However, the global economic crisis prompted China to stop the appreciation and regulate the exchange rate flexibility. From 2008 to 2010, the exchange indicated minimal changes since the rate was maintained at about 6.83 Yuan (Exchange-Rates.org 2013). Amid the then economic conditions, the Chinese government continued with their reforms in the exchange rate thus increasing the currency’s flexibility again. This led to an appreciation of the exchange rate leading to a loss of value by the Yuan against the dollar. The controlled flexibility of the Yuan leads to a slowed appreciation of the dollar against the Yuan. The slight change in the exchange rate of these currencies is caused by the fixed exchange rate regime maintained by China with regard to their currency. The depreciation of the US dollar over the years also contributes to the decrease in the exchange rate between the CNY and the USD. The USD has lost value against the Yuan and other major currencies across the world especially during the global financial crisis. The Chinese Yuan/US dollar exchange rate in 2012 portrayed several movements that ranged between an increase and a decrease in value of the Yuan against the dollar and the loss of value of the dollar against the Yuan. The table below shows the values of the exchange rates between the Yuan and the dollar. The values are on quarterly basis with the USD as the base currency (Wang 2009). Month (2012) USD Yuan January 1 6.6233 April 1 6.3077 August 1 6.3604 December 1 6.2223