Kissingers Israel Policy During the Yom Kippur War free essay sample

This paper evaluates Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixons policy towards Israel during the Yom Kippur War. This paper shows the large role that Henry Kissinger played during the Yom Kippur War and how his actions affected the wars outcome. In an attempt to break Egypt away from Soviet control, Richard Nixon had gradually been improving relations with Egypts Anwar al-Sadat. In 1972, Sadat removed Soviet advisors from his country and wanted to open negotiations with the United States. Nixon, however, wanted to put Egyptian-American rapprochement on hold until after the conflict in Vietnam had been settled because Israeli occupation of the Suez Canal kept that possible Soviet supply route closed. The Israelis did not want to negotiate with Egypt, but Nixon was willing to force them to, as soon as he could end Vietnam. As presented in class, once Henry Kissinger gained full power within the administration, he would reverse this policy, stonewalling any settlement in the Middle East and manufacturing a crisis between Egypt and Israel to produce another opportunity to explore US-Soviet detente. We will write a custom essay sample on Kissingers Israel Policy During the Yom Kippur War or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page

Managing Diversity in the Workplace Essay

Managing Diversity in the Workplace Essay Managing Diversity in the Workplace Essay Example Managing Diversity in the Workplace Essay Example People differ in many ways according to social classes/status, marital status, gender, age, sexual orientation, and disabilities. These differences can be visible or invisible. Human resource management acknowledges these differences and knows that workforce diversity is a reality in every organization. Different countries have different predominant workforce diversity issues. In the recent past, however, the predominant diversity issue worldwide was gender inequality. Women were viewed and treated as inferior to men. Over time, this issue has been corrected, although there are communities where women are still powerless and undermined. In the current world, other diversity issues have come up, such as religion and race/ethnicity. For example, in China, rural migrants are looked down upon and ill-treated in the workplace by their urban counterparts. The human resource department of every organization must ensure that the positive aspects of diversity in the workplace are appreciated and that nobody is treated as a second-class employee only because they are different from other workers. This paper gives an analysis of various issues surrounding diversity in human resources and proposes management guidelines to promote well-being of everyone in the organization. Increasing Diversity in the Workplace In the modern workplace, major issues concerning civil rights are racial equality and gender equity. However, these are not the only issues that personnel management considers when they come up with diversity initiatives in their organizations. Other factors that need addressing diversity in the workplace include age, disabilities, and workers caring for sick relatives. This has necessitated enactment of various laws to help to cater for these employees’ needs, for example, the Age Discrimination Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Family Medical Leave Act. Other factors that increase diversity in the workplace include cultural, religious, and linguistic differences among employees (Marquis, 2007). Despite increasing diversity in the workplace, the human resource management has the responsibility for fostering a healthy working environment in their organizations. Their task is to make certain that the organization is compliant with the anti-discrimination laws of the state. In addition, they must facilitate the development of an environment where people of different cultures, ages, sex, race, and religion work together harmoniously to achieve the goals of the organization (Beham, Straub, Schwalbach, 2012). Major Issues in Human Resource Diversity Management Some firms with diverse workforce argue that they are diverse in human resources because they have employees, both men and women, of various religions, races, and skin colors. However, in reality, despite the fact that they have diverse workforce, opportunities differ. Such inequality leads to a situation where a certain group is favored when, for example, promotions are given. Moreover, one finds out that in some organizations only a specific group of people can be in top managerial positions due to, maybe, their race, color, or religion. To handle these cases, there must be a law/policy that addresses such biases. The Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) policy protects employees against discrimination in the workplace. It requires that all employees have the same opportunities for recruitment, firing, transfers, wages/salaries, and promotions irrespective of their skin color, sex, race, national origin, or religion. The policy, which was passed into law in the United States in 1964, also states that discrimination in the classification of positions and advertising is illegal. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission handles all issues that arise in this field (Kossek, Lobel, Brown , 2005). Diversity management in human resources seeks to harness differences in the workforce to ensure that individual talents are utilized optimally to meet the goals of the organization. Every company should work with different talents among its stuff to guarantee that organizational goals are met in the most efficient way. This means that, instead of concentrating on discrimination, the human resource department should know the strengths of each employee and where they can work most efficiently so that the aims of the organization are achieved. It would be important to note that diversity management tries to overcome discrimination in the labor market by addressing individual differences that are most likely to bring inequality to the workplace. It also highlights the importance of respecting and taking advantage of those individual differences to maximize the potential of the workers and the organization in general. This vividly shows that diversity management in human resource acts, be yond the EOO policy, only requires a legal compliance (Kossek, Lobel, Brown , 2005). Objectives of Diversity Management Organizations implementing human resource diversity management seek to achieve competitive advantage in the market. Their main objective is to comply with the requirements of EEO policy. This is the basic idea for most companies. However, others go a step further and aim at utilizing diversity management to achieve employee attraction and retention. More probably than not, employees will be willing to work in organizations where their individual differences are respected and not used as a basis for discrimination. Therefore, organizations that promote diversity management have a higher retention rate since their staff is more comfortable working there as compared to other organizations where their differences bring about discrimination (Golembiewski, 1995). In addition to this, an organization can use diversity management to improve marketing capabilities. This plan applies where diverse workers present a good image of the organization to the outside world. Consequently, this acts as a marketing strategy for the company. In fact, research shows that diversity management reduces absenteeism among the staff. Evidently, this happens because people feel motivated and appreciated, hence there is job satisfaction. This is dissimilar to organizations with ‘dominant and ‘less dominant groups. In such companies, job satisfaction levels are quite low of those individuals who come from less dominant groups as compared to those in the dominant ones. Therefore, not allowing and appreciating diversity in human resources affects job satisfaction and hinders the possibility of healthy working relationships among co-workers and managers (Beham, Straub, Schwalbach, 2012). Effective diversity management also aims at promoting greater creativity and innovation. A diverse team allows for more clever ways of solving problems, fostering innovation and creativity in the organization. If the company does not appreciate the diversity of its human resources, then there is a lot of rigidity in the way they operate since they use only one perspective. Involvement of additional perspectives, which involves diversity management, will broaden the scope of thinking among workers and management, enhancing creativity and innovation. This is a great advantage to the organization that will steer its growth and ensure that the goals are attained (Golembiewski, 1995). Common Practices in Human Resource Diversity Management Human resource management has some functions that are aimed at maintaining and directing human resources of the organization. Diversity management can be incorporated along with these functions to produce an effective blend of policies. The discussion below is an analysis of human resource management functions combined with diversity management. Recruitment and Selection of Employees Diversity management in the process of recruiting and selecting employees entails giving everyone an equal chance to enter the organization. This means that, for example, women and other minority groups must be treated fairly. In the modern world, this is an increasing trend after various laws regarding equality in the workplace have been enacted. An organization that appreciates diversity in recruitment of its employees creates a good image, hence winning new customers. From time to time, some countries like South Africa use the Affirmative Action (AA) policy to favor the appointment of black people above better-qualified whites in a bid to address past discriminative policies. These efforts are supposed to provide equal opportunities for both the blacks and whites since initially management positions in the country were reserved for the whites. These efforts have yielded fruit as currently there is a higher percentage of blacks in managerial positions in South Africa (Cartwright, 2 002). Training and Development of Employees Diversity management in training and development of employees demands give a fair chance for every employee to get ahead from an organization. Previously, in the case of South Africa, the blacks were denied opportunities for advancing in their careers since there was a monopoly on skilled labor among the whites. This meant that blacks did not have a chance to learn managerial skills by apprenticeship. The Affirmative Action Programs have solved this issue. Other countries with a strong femininity culture have higher percentages of women in managerial positions as compared to countries where male chauvinism prevails (Kossek, Lobel, Brown , 2005). Despite a worldwide call for diversity in training and development of employees, the rate of women and other minority groups is still quite low. It is likely that the management of organizations where diversity management is not appreciated will promote employees with similar views to a position of a human resource manager. Evidently, fewer women are promoted to managerial positions or given relevant training as compared to men. This inequality creates the ‘glass ceiling effect phenomenon. This is an unacknowledged barrier created for women and colored people in the professional world where they cannot advance beyond; it means they cannot hold top managerial positions in organizations. It is illegal. Many countries and organizations still exhibit this effect, as a result, top managerial positions are reserved for specific groups of people, predominantly men (Marquis, 2007). Compensation: Wages and Salaries There should be equal pay for employees who work at the same level irrespective of their background or individual differences. Pay inequality leads to demotivation and job dissatisfaction among employees. The Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) and Affirmative Actions (AA) programs state that compensation among employees must be fair. However, this has not been effective since some people are paid less just because they are, say, women, or come from minority groups. This trend has necessitated the development of trade unions to solve the problem. Unions advocate for numerous issues that employees face in the workplace, among them, zero-tolerance for discrimination among unionized staff regarding wages (Golembiewski, 1995). Although, there have been reduced earnings disparities between women and men in the workplace, it has not ceased being a global concern. Statistics shows that females earn 20-30% less than their male counterparts. This is a total contrast to the requirements of the Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) and Affirmative Action programs. Every organization that appreciates diversity in management should smoothen out this disparity to ensure that ladies do not feel less motivated or looked down upon at work (Beham, Straub, Schwalbach, 2012). Performance Appraisals Diversity management in performance appraisal calls for equal promotion opportunities among workers. This means that promotions are issued in accordance with an employees performance irrespective of his/her gender or background. This is an ideal case. More often, it is easier to get a promotion when employees share the background with the managers, which leads to a situation where employees from less dominant groups do not get promoted, or they find it almost impossible to climb the career ladder. Women are victims of these circumstances. This heightens the effect for women who form minority communities. In some organizations, supervisors and managerial staff come from the same location, are of the same age, and they are all men. This is an ultimate sign that diversity management is not appreciated in the organization (Beham, Straub, Schwalbach, 2012). Overall, most companies only comply with the Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) policy regarding the minimum basic legal requirements. However, beyond that, they do not have affirmative action plans to gain the fulfillment of these minimum requirements. An organization that seeks to improve diversity management through human resources can use a variety of techniques. These techniques would involve generating a framework that addresses the strategies necessary for each function of human resource management. If properly utilized, these strategies would deliver great results in diversity management in the workplace. The discussion below analyzes the strategies that can be employed to provide diversity management on every function of human resources in a company (Beham, Straub, Schwalbach, 2012). Recruitment and Selection Human resource managers tend to recruit employees with similar values and cultures as them. To promote diversity in human resources, this should be abolished. In fact, human resource professionals who constitute interview committees ought to be conversant with the ways in which their beliefs, values, and customs influence behaviors of participants during interviews. This will eradicate bias in the selection process, and more diverse groups can contribute to the organization irrespective of individual disparities (Beham, Straub, Schwalbach, 2012). Training and Development An organization can promote diversity in the workforce by providing excellent diversity awareness training to allow for effective integration of diverse staff. This training is essential for building a mutual understanding of diversity as a value. Consequently, social cohesion among workers may be created, which helps to achieve individual and organizational goals. In 1995, some researchers carried out a study to determine the effectiveness of diversity training in an organization. The results were beyond belief. When the training commenced, only 9% of attendants were positive about diversity training in their company. By the end of the program, the figure rose to 75%. Before the training, 68% were skeptical of its effectiveness. However, after the training, a whopping 93% agreed that diversity training programs do work to create cohesion in the workplace (Marquis, 2007). For diversity training to work, it would be essential to provide a top-bottom strategy, whereby staff at top managerial positions are taught first, and then they pass the knowledge to their juniors. This training should be accomplished from different perspectives, depending on the organizations goals and nature of operations. When this diversity training is linked to the strategic goals of the organization, it achieves greater results as compared to situations when it is just a vague general training (Beham, Straub, Schwalbach, 2012). Compensation: Wages and Salaries In order to adopt effective diversity management in an organization, the principle of equal remuneration and a pay system that is based on performance must be applied. The determinants of wages, benefits schemes, and compensation structures ought to be designed on common principles, taking the ability, skills, and knowledge of an individual into consideration at the same time (Marquis, 2007). Performance Appraisals To make the model of diversity management in performance appraisals more effective, fairness is vital. It calls for an inclusion of mon-traditional managers in the performance appraisal committees. These managers should be rational, upholding fairness. Additionally, they must use an objective criterion rather than a subjective one since they must minimize bias in making their decisions on the right candidates for promotions. Moreover, the performance appraisals should use the language that focuses on an individuals performance and not their religion, race, or culture. This attitude will promote effective diversity management in the organization. It is also important to note that when assessing managers’ performance, those who make an effort to hire and promote minority groups and women should be recognized because they show improve of diversity in the organization (Marquis, 2007). Diversity Management and Balancing Work and Family Life Every organization that seeks to have effective diversity management in human resources must adopt measures that help to create awareness of the work environment in order to improve working conditions and stimulate productivity. One of these measures would be to ensure that the organization supports better work-life balance. It could manifest itself in various forms. For example, shorter working hours and childcare leaves. An organization can implement the Childcare Leave Law to guarantee that new parents in the organization are not discriminated against and that they are comfortable at work. The law requires that employees must be given a paid leave of up to 10 days if they return to work within three months after the delivery of their child. A shorter working-hour-program implies that employees with children, who attend third-grade elementary school and lower institution, must be given working hour options and work time patterns that best meet the needs of their individual lifestyl es. This ensures that the welfare of these employees, who would be otherwise stressed in the workplace due to rigid timetables, is considered (Robert John, 2013). Effective human resource diversity management is essential for every organization. It fosters innovation since versatile workforce means a broader base of cultural experiences. This brings in a new perspective, improving the operations of the business in a unique way. Additionally, effective diversity management attracts talent and customers. This happens because customers prefer to purchase products or seek services from diverse companies. In the modern world, if an organization wants to be successful and maintain healthy competition against competitors, it must embrace diversity, not only in the products it is dealing with but also in the human resources employed in the organization. Moreover, stimulation of diversity management in human resources promotes cultural intelligence among employees. This may be explained by the fact that it gives both the customers and the employees an opportunity to learn and appreciate the values of other cultures. Diversity expands the minds of the s taff, fostering national unity in general since the people have been taught to value other cultures irrespective of the differences they have. The benefits of having diverse workforce cannot be understated. They go a long way in bringing fruits at organizational, national, and global levels. If people are taught to give every person an equal chance in everything, this attitude instills in them a strong culture. It reduces circumstances where workers feel discriminated against and receive no satisfaction in their jobs. Otherwise, organizations will have to work with employees that have no job satisfaction and behave like robots. Such conduct will mean that attainment of organizational goals will become too hard or sometimes, the goals become ultimately unattainable. For this reason, it would be in the best interest of every organization to ensure that they diversify their human resources and manage them effectively.

Should Funny Cat Videos Be Allowed on YouTube

Should Funny Cat Videos Be Allowed on YouTube It seems that every other minute on social media, you see some strange – but usually hilarious – animal video going viral. Dogs chasing their tale  turtles dancing to Lady Gaga, cats knocking down drinking glasses, shattering them. If there is an argument that videos like these be outlawed on YouTube, which is one of the most widely used video-sharing websites in the world, it’s a weak argument for sure. Unless it’s grotesque or offensive in nature, humorous cat videos should be allowed on YouTube. Allowing these videos to be seen seems to do no damage at all, and videos of this sort may even help people to some extent. To begin with, funny cat videos belong on YouTube because people love cats –  their cuteness, their movements, traits, and behaviors – so it’s logical for people to enjoy watching videos of them on this website. And if a website like YouTube was created for people to communicate, to share videos of common interests, as well as for people’s general enjoyment, it only makes sense for funny cat videos to be uploaded to the website. Surely not everyone loves cats and cat videos, but many people do – as seen in these kinds of videos going viral. There is a reason why so many of the videos going viral are videos that first are introduced on YouTub. Secondly, funny cat videos should also be allowed on YouTube for another reason: such kinds of videos benefit people. Yes, in the stressful, fast-paced, high-pressure society we live in, with high taxes, an even higher cost of living, it’s imperative that hard-working people find outlets for their stress. And better than alcohol or drugs, there is humor. The physical act of laughing sends naturally occurring endorphins and other happy-feeling neurotransmitters rushing through a person’s brain, in turn lessening stress and leaving a person feeling happier, healthier and more relaxed. When a person, for example, sees a video of a cat demanding their owner’s attention almost to the point of being aggressive, but in a comical way, the viewer tends to lighten up. Watching a video of a cat doing strange things, like jumping three feet in the air at the sight of a cucumber on the ground behind them, is just therapeutic. When it comes down to it, when one considers the b enefit of watching silly cat videos, there should be no doubt whatsoever that funny cat videos belong on YouTube.be. It is the appropriate place for such videos. It screams funny cat videos. Lastly, YouTube is just the place for silly cat videos; therefore, they should be allowed on the website. When comparing YouTube to other social media, especially professional networking websites like LinkedIn, one sees the frivolous nature of YouTube – and how it is meant to be silly and humorous and nonprofessional. That’s the entire point of YouTube: It does not have an air of pretentiousness about it, and it is traditionally not used to grow a business or to land a person a job; though this is sometimes the case. So, evidently, YouTube is the perfect place for silly cat videos – as well as other humorous videos that become a source of healthy escapism for people, and not just animal videos. To conclude this argument, consider the above points that demonstrate how humorous cat videos surely belong and should be allowed, on YouTube: people love cats and cat videos; cat videos make people laugh and smile, and people need that, and YouTube is meant for these kinds of videos. Any arguments challenging the allowance of funny cat videos on this widely used site are completely erroneous, fallible and one-sided. YouTube provides users with a service, and that service provides an escape, a way for people to release their pent-up, hostile, violent emotions that would otherwise distract them from living normal, fulfilling, happy lives.

English as Global Langauge Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

English as Global Langauge - Essay Example Before examining these pros and cons, it might be useful to examine how English came to be one of the most commonly used languages in the world. Historically, this language came into Britain from northern Europe during the fifth century and moved to the Asian, African and American continents with the expeditions and colonizations that followed in the last three centuries. English was left behind as a legacy in the colonized countries as they became independent nations, and was often made the official language of communication. With the rise of technology, especially the media in the form of the radio, television and the internet, the dissemination of English became reinforced. Not only the media but trade became truly globalized with the rise of off-shoring and outsourcing made possible with better technology . The rise of multinational companies and corporations and international organizations like UNESCO enhanced the need of a global language. English was there to readily fill in the gap, with its already existing spread and flexibility. Since English was already present in various places like India and Africa as a result of former colonization, it was easier for the language to spread further. English has been touted time and again as a language that could successfully eliminate the need for translation during communication in business, political, and cultural contexts. It has a huge vocabulary of more than 80,000 words which makes it very expressive, and the written script is similar to that of many European languages because of a common origin in Latin. But the increasing use of English in countries with different native languages has an effect of diminishing the status of these indigenous languages. This is even more significant given the history of the English language which was earlier seen as a symbol of colonial oppression in many countries, and is seen today in many countries as a demonstration of the superiority of the West. In some quarters it is felt that the use of English as an official language instead of a native tongue is detrimental to a country's national and cultural identity. Due to its global nature in an increasingly shrinking world, English is fast becoming the language of commercial and formal communications . This makes it an economically viable language to learn in many developing countries where knowing fluent English can actually lead to increased earning opportunities. This strong economic incentive behind learning English could lead to the relinquishment of native tongues, leading to entire languages dying out. Another factor that could cause a language to decline is a decline in its literature. There is a growing trend of non-native authors writing in English: Indian or African writers writing in English are becoming quite common. It is a well-documented fact that all authors with very few exceptions have their best literary output in one language alone. If most literature begins to be produced in English, even by authors who have a different mother tongue, it would be a great loss to their original languages. When languages decline, they take with them rare and precious cultural traditions. This raises fears of loss of cultural diversity which is so vital to the evolution of mankind. Experts think that a uniform world where all cultures and literatures would be similar could become a future scenario

Visit Museum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Visit Museum - Essay Example Ashland is also a historic place that is maintained through donations. It has beautiful sceneries for refreshment. The political position of Henry Clay and his love for racing contributed to the Lexington, Kentucky rising as the Horse Capital of the World. His role as a Senator is still remembered today, the panel of historians and Senate leaders still regard him as one of the greatest senators of all time. Mary Todd Lincoln House is a museum that was constructed to honor the wife of the wife of the 16th President of the U.S. Mary Todd was one of the first ladies in the U.S with a very unwelcoming behavior. She spent her time in seclusion because of the hatred people had towards her. The events that take place in the museum include the Presidents Day Family Event that take place in February, an annual dinner and entertainment that take place in September, Cemetery Walking Tours that take place in October, and Mary’s Birthday celebration which is held in December. Mary Todd Lincoln House is the house in which the wife of the 16th President of the U.S. grew up. The home faces the main street in Downtown Lexington, and it is a few distance from the Lexington Convention Center. Since 1977, the House, which is the first historic museum to honor first lady, has been opened to the public to honor the first lady. I was delighted to enter such a historic house in my life. I had the chance of seeing one of the portraits that were completed while she was in the White House as the first lady. In the portrait, the first lady had flowers on the hair a signification of her hair dignity style. The house had a bedroom upstairs in which President Lincoln and his wife stayed when they visited her home. Apart from this, the house consists of fourteen rooms; a master bedroom, a nursery area, Mary’s bedroom and many other rooms that served different roles. The many numbers of rooms is a signification of how wide Mary’s family house.

Impact of IT on Bank Performance

Impact of IT on Bank Performance IMPACT OF INTERNET TECHNOLOGY ON BANKS PERFORMANCE AND CUSTOMERS SATISFACTION ABSTRACT Internet technology is very popular and has many benefits for the users; however it does has some elements of security risks to the bank and its customers at large. In this research work, I intend to look at impact of internet technology on Bank, its employees and the customers. More importantly, efforts were also made to research into various risks associated with this technology such as hacking, spam-email, phishing, identity theft or frauds and many others. After critical look at this technology and its associated risks especially the identity theft, two sets of solutions were recommended. The first set solutions addressed physical access control while the second aspect deal with authentication through the process of fingerprint and voice recognition. 1.0 INTRODUCTION This project is trying to evaluate the impact of Internet technology on banks performance and customers satisfaction. Banking industry is the bedrock of economy, the state of Banks will dictate the state of economy. If it stables, so will the economy. The present global economy recession attests to this statement. Technology innovation like Internet is groundbreaking in banking system. Transactions worth of billions of dollars take place in seconds in the electronic circuit throughout the globe (Castells, 2001). The banking and financial industry is transforming itself in unpredictable ways (Crane and Bodies 1996). Prior to the rocket of technology in banking sector, the function of the branch was very unlike the function of present branch. Earlier before the 1970s, the structure of the branch and functions were similar to one and other. Product offerings were equally the same and branches were only avenue for customers to make bank transactions. Majority of these banks were only rel ying on one or two branches but with many staff and cashiers. Customers were subjected to long distant travelling before they could carry out banking transactions. Face to face traditional banking was only means to process bank loan, make lodgements and withdrawals and customers were subjected to long queue in the banking hall. But the increase in the level of banking technology made the banks started a process of metamorphose that proceed till the end of the 20th century. As part of process, many channels of distributions were introduced. Among these channels are Automated Teller Machine (ATM), Internet banking, Telephone banking, call-centre, electronic funds transfer, wireless banking, and voice messaging systems, videoconferencing and many others. Rapid growth and development in internet technology over the last four decades have great impact on organisations. The impact was highly noticeable in area of services, products offering and business processes. Banks have use internet technology to cut operations costs, increase qualities, efficiencies and improve value-added services to the customers. Also, investment in technology gives competitive advantages to some Banks leading to some banks have opportunities to perform better than their rivals. Banks through the innovation of internet technology were able to provide better and cheaper services than traditional system of branch banking. Apart from these, level of banking transactions were equally increased, Convenience and twenty four hours banking services were also witnessed in banking system. More importantly, the level of communication within and outside the banking environment were equally improved, access to the right information and high quality of services were not comp romised. The banking environment became more friendly and flexible. Information that can only available through the means of technology became an important aspect of the banking. Many people argued that it was advance in technology of 1990s that made it possible to develop those channel of distributions and system that allowed the banks to render an unprecedented high quality services. In final analysis, this research work assess an aspect of banking that is lacking in Traditional Bank an online banking and its impact on customer satisfaction and banks performance. 1.1 AIM AND OBJECTIVES The research on Internet technology in banking and acceptance of modern banking by customers have been viewed in different perspectives but few aspects of this topic are left with little exploratory. There is little research on the effects of Internet technology on banks profitability and customers satisfaction. Many researchers did not fully agree that Internet technology has immensely affected the profitability level of the banks. The rationale behind this is to offer a better understanding on how internet banking is evolving. This study intends to achieve the following objectives: 1. Research the problem of identity theft and card authorisation 2. Evaluate the problem concerning lost revenue 3. Research the other work done in this area. 4. Proffer solution to the problem of identity theft and card authorisation. 5. Implementing solutions and the cost benefits 1.2 CONTEXT OF THE STUDY Banks have use internet technology to cut operations costs, increase qualities, efficiencies and improve value-added services to the customers. Also, investment in technology gives competitive advantages to some Banks leading to some banks having opportunities to perform better than their rivals. This research work is focusing on two important key elements which are: 1) Impact of internet technology on Bank and its customers and; 2) Associated risks with internet technology with more emphasis on identity theft 1.3 EXPECTED CONTRIBUTION TO KNOWLEDGE The expected contributions to knowledge of this research work are to identify various theft and card authorisation, evaluate the problem concerning lost revenue and proffer solution to the problems. 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW It is my intention to survey literature review to reveal the level of knowledge and understanding of people about identity theft. A number of text books, articles and journals internet search are used for this purpose. Among these are: a) 50 ways to protect your identity and your credit card Steve weisman The book is well written very relevant to the study and well referenced. Various types of identity thefts were discussed. It also explains that the motive behind identity theft could be for financial gain, revenge or malicious intent. The book goes further to suggest some protection rules such as only the credit cards that needed should be carried in the wallet, the practice of online account statement should be stick to, personal information should not be given on phone to unknown persons, shredding documents that containing personal detail after use and so on. But these protection rules only addressed offline identity theft, the issue of online identity theft or frauds which common to credit cards were not addressed at all. b) Business Information system (Technology, Development Management) Paul, et al The book looks at the issues of identity theft, brand abuse and costs of identity theft. The three issues discussed are equally paramount important to this research. The book is good for academic and well referenced. According to the book, â€Å"the term brand abuse is used to cover a wide range of activities, ranging from sale of counterfeit goods, for example software applications, to exploiting a well known brand name for commercial gain. It was further stated that with regards to identity theft, CIFAS(www.cifas.org), a UK-base fraud prevention service, report that there were 80,000 cases of identity theft in the UK in 2006.The coated in the companys web site showed that identity fraud cost UK economy  £1.5b in 2005 and generates a revenue of  £10m each day for fraudsters. c) Identity theft literature review- Graeme, R.N Megan M.M It is a well written article and equally well referenced. In this article, the authors focused on two important issues, the first one is the cost of identity theft while the second one focuses on the issue of legislations. The two issues discussed are very relevant to this research. The authors look at various identity legislations passed to control the crimes of identity. (www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ca29schiff/062304idThef2.html). d) Enquiry in to the credit card fraud in E- payment- Jithendra, D. Laxman, G In this article the authors look at credit card Hacking and types of credit card frauds. This article is not well referenced and authors failed to proffer adequate solutions at end of the discussion. In my opinion, the article is much related to this research work but the sources of documents used to write the article cannot be easily traced because it is not properly referenced. However, it is very helpful reading in understanding the background of the topic. e) Identity theft and credit card fraud Sarah P. Miller Sarah Millers article examines the various tactics the fraudsters use to commit credit card fraud. Some of these tactics are; opening a new credit accounts, existed accounts hijacking, skimming tactic among the other. The article also looks at various ways of protections against credit card fraud and come up with some of security measures to guard against credit card fraud in our society. The article is appropriately written and very useful for this research. The source of the article is also quoted as http://EzinArticles.com/?expert=sarahp.miller . f) Improving response time of authorization process of credit card system- Humid, siti Hafizan Ab It is a journal of computer science published in February 1 2008. The journal discusses the issue of credit card authorization process. It also explains the pitfalls and benefits of credit card authorization. The journal is very briefs about the topic but all the salient points are well discussed. It gives a website as the only source but fail to give other reference. It is very pertinent to mention that the journal would have been a great assistant to the realisation of the objectives of this research work if it has been properly referenced but the beauty of this journal is that it serves as basis of understanding of the topic. g) 7 precautions that minimize the Risk of identity theft Jesse Whitehead In this article, Jesse looks at financial costs of identity theft and estimated it to be $50 billion. He further explains that researchers are yet to discover a precaution that is hundred percent guaranties against the risk of identity theft. In final analysis, Jesse recommends the following precautions to reduce the threat of identity theft in our society. One, he recommends that social security number should not be disclosed to anybody unless otherwise require by law. Secondly, it was also suggested that social security number should not be carried all about. Shredding all important documents immediate after use is strongly recommended and more emphasis should be placed on e- statements from our banks and credit issuers. It was also suggested that a strong password and pin should be created and printing of Driver licence number on our checks should be highly discouraged. The author gives this website as the source of article http://EzinArticle.com/?expert=jessewhitehead but no other reference available. It is very relevant to this project as important aspect of the topic is being discussed. 2.1 DEFINITION OF INTERNET According to Paul et al, â€Å"internet refers to the physical network that links computers across the globe†. From this definition, the interconnectivity of many computer devices all over the globe is done through the world-wide computer network known as internet. These computer devices store and transmit information like World Wide Web and electronic mail (e-mail) messages. There are other devices like mobile computer, pagers, web TVs that are connected to the internet. All these devices are revered to as host or end system. Both electronic mail and world -wide web are network application programs that run on host or end system. Like other internet units, end system run protocols that regulate the sending and receiving of information in the internet domain. Internet has two major protocols popularly called TCP (Transmission control protocol) and IP (internet protocol). Communication links like coaxial cable, copper wire, fibber optics or radio spectrum link end systems together. Data transmission rate of all these links are not the same. This transmission rate is known as bandwidth and is measure in bit or second. End systems are indirectly join to one and other vial routers and a router receives information from the incoming communication links and send it to its outgoing communication links. The IP defines the format of receiving and sending information between the routers and end systems. The path on which information is transmitted is called route or path. The internet then utilises packet switching which gives room for multiple communicating end systems to share a path of a path simultaneously. Connection of network to the internet needs to follow specific name and address and it must be run on the IP protocol. The arrangement of interconnection of the internet is from bottom to top. End systems is connected to local internet service providers by means of access network and this access network is refers to as local area network (LAW) or phone based access network. The local internet service providers are then connected to regional internet service providers. The regional internet providers will also connected to national and international internet service providers. This type of internet is called public internet. There are other private networks that cannot be accessed by public. It can only be accessed within the organisations and refer to as intranet. It also makes use of the same internet technology that public internet is using. Another way of defining Internet is to look at its infrastructural that offers services to distributed application. Internet provides opportunity to distribute application on its end systems to share data with each other. The application could be inform of e-mail, file transfer, remote login, and world-wide web and so on. Web can be ran over network apart from the internet but this does not suggest that web is a separate network, instead it is one of the distribute applications that make use of services offer by the internet. Both connection-oriented services and connectionless services are two services offer by internet to the distributed application. 2.2 GROWTH OF INTERNET Internet and computer networks began early 1960s. During this period, telephone was commonly employed as means of communication. This telephone network utilises circuit switching to transmit information from a sender to receiver and since then, internet continue to grow from strength to strength. There are a number of factors that contributing to this development. Financial analysts observe that costs, competition, demographic issues and customer service are the major considerations that make bankers to constantly review their internet bank strategies. It is the belief of these analysts that demand for internet banking products and services will continue to increase. But the major task facing banks now is how to ensure that the benefits of internet banking outweigh its costs and the risks. The strategies adopted by each bank to increase its market share and cost reduction vary from one bank to another. Internet is a platform through which customers access accounts and general informa tion. It gives customers information about various products and services offer by the bank. 2.3 RISKS OF INTERNET SERVICE There are a number of internet threats around business world today. The threat continue to increase as internet become more acceptable means of conducting online business transactions. As banks so heavily rely on internet to reduce costs, so also they become more prone to some risks. Few examples of these risks are as followings: a) Hacking Hacking involves attempting to gain unauthorised access to a computer system, usually across a network. Hackers only need limited programming knowledge to wreak large amount of havoc. The fact that billions of bits of information can be transmitted in bulk over the public telephone network has made it difficult to trace hackers, who can make repeated attempts to invade bank system. For instant, much damage could be done if people gain authorised access to banks network service. Hacker may gain access to banks internal network for two major reasons. It could be for monetary benefit which usually associated with identity theft where personal information as well as credit card details is obtained to perpetrate fraud. It could also come inform of malicious intent ranging from deletion of file, deliberate introduction of computer viruses into a system or forwarding vital organisations information to rival. Counter measure like dial-back security can be used to prevent this problem. It ope rates by requiring the customer wanting access to the network to dial into it identity themselves first. The system then dials the customer back on their authorised number before allowing them access. Also, system can have firewall to prevent unauthorised access into bank system. Firewall software is use to monitor and control all incoming and outgoing traffic to deny intruders gaining access to the information system. b) Malicious Code Malicious code like worms, Trojan horse program and viruses are written to penetrate a system in order to have access to confidential information or disrupting the bank network. Through the help of the code, Fraudster can enter the network of a bank without its knowledge and valuable information can be stolen in the process. This stolen information can be used to commit identity theft or fraud. This code attacks are very delicate in that they can replicate and spread themselves without human intervention. c) Intrusion This is a process through which an intruder has access to bank network. Usually, the intruders are employees of the bank who have gained access to the authentication information of a bank customer. Intruder could also be an external person who has acquires some skills to get the authentication information of the bank customer. When internal or external intruders have unauthorised access to bank network, vital information about customers can be obtained and later use to perpetrate frauds or commit crimes. To guard against this ugly incident, bank must restrict its employees to some areas of its network. d) Denial of services Banks nowadays rely on internet for effective communication within and outside organisations. In the process of communication, the bank is subjected to the risk of denial of services. Communication channels of the bank can be blocked, web page may be changed or the system employ to process online business transaction may be attacked. A denial of service attack is associated with an attempt by attacker to prevent legitimate users of a service from using that service. The situation forces the bank to close down services until everything return to normal. This kind of criminal activity was hardly experience until 1999 when the crime became cankerworms in our business environments. The effect of this criminal activity is very great most especially when bank so heavily depend on the internet for online business transactions. Huge amount of money could be lost to the fraudster through the attack. Attack on Amazon and Yahoo servers in the year 2000 was a good example. The servers of Yahoo w as engulfed with series of attacks and â€Å"The attack was estimated as costing  £ 300,000 in the lost advertising revenue alone† (Financial Time of November 17, 2000). Another popular of denial of service attack was witnessed in 2004. During this time, a group of fraudsters from Russian embarked on a number of denials of service attack on UK bookmaker. The attackers demanded for certain amount of money before they could stop the attack, but the organisation in question (bookmaker) was not ready to give them any money at that time leading to a great losses of about forty million pound. The effect was very terrible on financial position of the company that very year. e) Brand Abuse It involves sale of counterfeit goods like software application to exploit a well recognised brand name for commercial benefit. Fraudster can imbedded the name of reputable organisation into a bogus web page just to portrait the page as high rank one. People that search for this reputable organisation can be routed to the false web page where the counterfeit goods are sold. A lot of people have intention of buying genuine products and services but end up in buying counterfeit one through the brand abuse. The effect of this is that people pay high price for less quality goods and services. The brand abuse practice costs most UK organisations huge amount of money and cost continue to increase year in year out. People also are no longer sure that the goods and services buy over web pages are actually genuine one. Many people have been victims of counterfeit unknowingly but thinking that they have bought the original goods and services they intend to buy even at exorbitant price. f) Credit Card Fraud The use of credit card online has become a global phenomenal. This card is being use all over the world to make payment for goods or services purchase on internet, retail shops or restaurants. The proliferation use of credit card online makes the users expose to various forms of risks. The risk could be in form of using peoples personal information to open new accounts, hijacking existing accounts. g) Opening of new account After important details like name, date of birth, social security number is obtained, the fraudster can pretend to be another person in order to create new lines of credits. The victims name can be used to secure credit cards and it may not be known to victim that someone has taken credit card on his or her name. Some people in many cases get to know when they receive calls from debt collectors or when they apply for loan and it is not granted due to bad credit rating. Many people have been forced to pay debt they didnt actually own through this process. h) Hijacking account Hijacking existing account is another method use to commit credit card fraud. Existing account can be hijacked by altering important details of the victims such as personal identification number, passwords, billing or mailing address. The purpose of this is to take perfect control of someones account illegally. The original owner of the account may find it hard to regain the control of the account. Even if they regain the control, fraudsters might have wreck serious havoc on financial reputation of the original owner of the account. It takes victims some time and money before they could clear their names from this mess. i) Skimming It is very common in the restaurants, stores or automated Teller machine. Skimming is done through the use of palm-sized card -reading devices. This device is capable of swiping credit card information. It is very delicate in that it may not be noticed until the victims witness unsolicited charges on the statement account of their credit cards. Many of these devices can be planted into Automated Teller machine slots or strategic locations that are not visible to the people. The aim and objective of doing this is to illegally capture important details of targeted victims. The details collected through this method can be used to perpetrate frauds on customers accounts or use to commit crime in the name of the victims. j) Phishing Phishing is another method that thieves use to lure people to supply their personal information through false e-mail and web sites. Customers may receive bogus electronic mail through a web site telling them to update their details. The web site may look like that of normal bank they use to visit. But when they access this web site, their account numbers and passwords will be demanded for. Both password and account number are collected through this method and later use to siphon money from customers accounts or credit cards. Barclays Bank and some highly reputable organisations were a victim of the crime in 2003.This method of stealing is hardly to detect because the e-mail and web site are made so similar to that of original banks. The only preventive measure is for the banks to educate their customers to ignore such e-mail whenever they receive it. Although this will not totally wipe out the crime because many online customers will still respond to such e-mail but additional measur e like authentication which involves adding an extra field to a record with the contents of this field derived from the remainder of the record by applying an algorithm that has previously been agreed between the bank and customers will go a long way in countering this crime. Multiple passwords can also be employed to counter the problem. Furthermore, there are many more of internet threats around but this research work will focus majorly on identity theft and card authorisation. 2.4 IDENTITY THEFT According to available information, identity theft and identity fraud are not new crimes. Both have been in existent for a while and continue to be among the fastest growing crimes in the UK. These two crimes can be perpetrated without a thief even burgling into your home or have physical contact with your computer system. The problem is likely to get even worse because of economy recession that grips all the nations. Information gathered from banks reveal that insurance fraud is increase by 17% and identity fraud seems to be following the same pattern. If bank customer identity is compromised he or she may find it hard to have good access to a loan, credit card or mortgage until everything is resolved. We are all victims of these crimes. We eventually pay highest prices in shops, highest interest rate on mortgages and higher premium on our insurance policies for no other reasons than this problem of fraud. Government and corporate individual organisations have been making frantic efforts to reduce these crimes. But in spite of all these efforts, the rate of identity theft and identity fraud are yet to reduce and number of victims of these crimes are also increasing on alarming rate. According to (UK payments, the UK trade association for payments, 2008) card fraud losses total  £609.9m, online banking fraud losses  £52.5m and cheque fraud losses  £41.9m. Furthermore, of identity fraud in 2007 was quoted to be 65,043 according to CIFAS, the UKs fraud prevention service. The 2003 survey of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) indicated that about 3.25 million Americans had lodged complaints that their personal detail was illegitimately used to get credit cards, obtain loans, rent apartment, and enjoy medical facility and some time use to commit crimes. Also, more than 5 million Americans were victims of credit card frauds where personal detail was used to obtain lines of credit and twent y five million plus have been victim of identity theft. WHAT ARE IDENTITY THEFT AND IDENTITY FRAUD THEN? Identity Theft is situation where by an individuals personal information or confidential detail is steal by another person without their knowledge. But Identity fraud is committed when thieves use this information to secure credit, goods or other services in the name of targeted victim without his or her knowledge. Another definition describe identity theft as â€Å"anyone who knowingly transfers or uses, without lawful authority, any name or number that may be used, alone or in conjunction with any other information, to identify a specific individual with the intent to commit or aid or abet, any unlawful activity that constitutes a violation of federal law, or that constitutes a felony under any applicable state or local law† (1998 identity Theft Act, U.S public Law 105-318). 2.5 REASON FOR IDENTITY THEFT FRAUD Reports so far on various form of identity thefts indicated that fraudsters commit identity theft for a number of reasons. But the most common one are: a) Concealment Many people commit identity theft simply because they want to cover their past criminal records. Some people in the past have committed one crime or the other and want to cover them to avoid arrest. A very good example of this scenario was that of September eleven terrorist. â€Å"All 19 of the September 11th terrorist were involved in identity theft in some way† (Willox and Regan 2002) many people were wrongly arrested because their identities have been stolen. Also, a number of people commit identity theft because they want to hide their bad financial records which denied them access to essential banks products or services such as bank loans, mortgage, account opening or credit card. In some situations, identity theft can be committed to avoid payment of existing debts. These type of people may want to enjoy normal life again and the only way they can achieve this is to masquerade themselves under the identity of another person. The effects of these criminal activities are t hat warrant arrest and prosecution may be issued in the name of victim customer. b) Financial benefit Investigation conducted from various banks indicated that many fraud cases reported in the recent past revealed that people committing identity theft for financial gain. In some cases, thieves steal personal information of innocent persons to open a line of credit cards accounts. Along the line many goods and services can be purchased in the name of targeted victims. In the same manner, details of another person can be used to secure loan from bank and account abandon later after fraudsters might have make a lot of money from the accounts of victims. A friend narrated his experience where fraudster obtained his personal details to secure a loan of about  £10.000 from a commercial bank without his knowledge. The fraud discovered some months later when he received a letter from the bank that sum of  £10.000 plus accrued interest is due for payment in his account. The fraudsters have used his identity to have illegitimate financial gain. The case took him some legal battles and time before he could exonerate himself from this mess. c) Revenge Many banks have witnessed identity theft through the activities of their employees. Some employees of bank may collude with fraudsters to steal details of customers as retaliation to the termination of their appointments or the bad treatments they received from their employers. In this process, valuable banks information may be sold to competitors leading the bank to various litigations and financial lost. Also the reputation of the bank may be seriously damaged. The effect of this is decline in profits and low patronage of the customers. 2.6 TYPE OF IDENTITY THEFT Many Bank customers have been victims of identity theft by one way or the other and type of identity will largely depend on the definition giving to it. But the most prominent one is credit card. Information available reveals that credit card fraud on internet has been seriously increase due to the opportunity offered by new improved internet technology. Apart from credit card fraud, there are other types of identity theft such as extortion, phishing, financial scam, avoiding arrest, organized identity theft and many others. a) Extortion Fraudsters have many ways of extorting money from banks and customers but the two common one are cyber squatting and the threat of leaking customers information. Cyber- squatting, this method of extortion related to registering a bogus internet domain to

Countries trade products Essay

In the world market, countries trade products they wouldn’t be able to produce on their own. Countries like Cuba specializes in cigar production, Japan in electronics, and Russia in rocket technology. However, even if a country has an absolute advantage in producing all goods, they still will benefit from trade. Many economic factors are involved with trade. Among the major factors are opportunity costs, comparative advantage, specialization and finally trade. Opportunity cost is defined as the value of the best alternative forgone when an item or activity is chosen. In other words, opportunity cost is the cost of choice. For example: the opportunity cost of producing a car is the time that could’ve been used to produce something else, say paper. For a country (country A) that has an absolute advantage ( the ability to produce something using fewer resources than other producers use ) in producing both cars and paper, the opportunity cost of producing say, 1 car is the production of 3 tons of paper. Thus, what product a country chooses to specialize on must be chosen so as to produce as much as possible while suffering as little opportunity cost as possible. Which goods the country should specialize on should be monitored by the law of comparative advantage, which states that: the country with the lowest opportunity cost of producing a particular good should specialize in producing that good. By specializing on a certain good, a country lowers the opportunity cost of that good by forgoing production of other goods. For example: Say country A has an absolute advantage in producing cars as well as paper, and the opportunity cost of producing 1 car is 3 tons of paper. Country B however, produces 1 car at an opportunity cost of 6 tons of paper. If these two countries specialized according to comparative advantage, country A produces 2 cars whilst country B produces 12 tons of paper. Therefore, country B should concentrate on solely producing paper and hand over the job of car production entirely to country A. To gain the maximum benefits of specialization among countries, countries should trade their products with products from other countries. In the example above, the total output of cars and paper has increased as a result  of specialization. But exactly how much should both countries trade to gain the highest possible benefits? By trading 1 car for 4 tons of paper, country A will gain 1 ton of paper while country B gains 2 tons of paper. Hence, both countries gain more paper by trade without increasing their resources. Country A Country B Cars Paper (tons) Cars Paper (tons) Without trade: Production and consumption 1 3 1 6 With Trade: Production 2 0 0 12 Trade Gives 1 Gets 4 Gets 1 Gives 4 Consumption 1 4 1 8 Gains from Trade: Increase in Consumption None +1 ton None +2 tons In conclusion, all the economic factors mentioned combined with trade allows benefits even to a country that has the ability to produce goods while using fewer resources than other countries.