Death Penalty and Crime Rates :: Research Essays

Death Penalty and Crime Rates The question I chose for this survey was, "Do you think the death penalty deters crime or lowers the crime rate?" I chose this question because it was the most applicable question to my field of study and world of work, which is law. I think this was an interesting question to ask for two reasons. First, it has been an issue that has been hotly debated since capital punishment was incorporated into the United States' criminal justice system. Secondly, because of the two groups I focused on, I thought the answers would yield wild and controversial results. I chose to target two specific groups for my survey. The first group, made up predominantly of women, was my Monday night SNL class, Criminal Justice, Criminal Violence. I chose this group because the course content at the time dealt with the causes of criminal violence in America: poverty, lower IQ, drugs, race, broken families, etc. I felt that this group would be the more liberal of the two groups. I predicted that an overwhelming majority of the class would respond "no." The second group I targeted was a group at the company where I work which consisted primarily of men. I chose this group because my company is soundly conservative and I thought that the overall tenor of the company would accurately reflect the beliefs of individual employees. I predicted that this group would answer "yes." Further breaking down my predictions, regardless of which group the "questionee" fell into, I expected the overall response of the African-American respondents to be "no." I also expected the majority of Caucasian respondents to say "yes" with a few dissenters. Although I knew that most of the participants fell within the 25-35 year old range, I expected the few older participants (35 and above) to say "yes." I did not think marital status would have any effect on the answers. I expected the "yes" answers primarily to come from the men. Finding people to answer the survey was relatively simple. I first asked my Monday night instructor for permission to survey the class. He seemed reluctant at first, because his concern was that the class may not be educated enough on the subject matter to give accurate answers. After I explained what the paper was about and gave him a copy of our class handout, he agreed. The second group of people was at work.

The Different Motivational Theories

This model, namely expectancy theory, suggests that individuals, acting through self-interest, adopt courses of action perceived as maximizing the probability of desirable outcomes for themselves. This desire to maximize self-interest provides aspiring leaders with unique opportunities to assume leadership roles by simultaneously meeting both follower needs and organizational requirements. We intend to explicitly link expectancy theory and leadership concepts to demonstrate that leader interactions with followers permit the establishment of highly motivational working environments. In so doing, individuals acquire the means to transcend their traditional roles of supervisor, manager, or follower, and realize their potentials as leaders. In order to remain competitive at home or within the global market, we must stop relegating in our minds the functions of leadership to the office of the president or CEO of the organization. Instead, we must come to view the leadership role as part of every employee's job, at all levels of the organization. (Isaac, Zerbe & Pitt, 2001, p. 212) Since its origins in the 1960s Equity Theory held forth the promise of helping to explain how employees respond to situations in which they perceive they are being rewarded more or less favorably in comparison to a referent doing similar work. Shortly after its inception, Weick (1966) deemed it to be one of the most useful existing organizational behavior theories. Subsequent reviews concluded that the empirical evidence supporting Equity Theory was generally strong, especially with regards to how workers respond to under-reward situations. Equity Theory proposed that subjects respond to under-reward situations in various ways in an attempt to bring their equity ratio back into balance. For example, subjects may choose a behavioral response to help reduce their feelings of inequity. They may respond in such ways as reducing their inputs (i. e. , not put forth as much effort) or increasing their outcomes (i. e. , ask for a raise). Subjects may instead use a cognitive response to reduce feelings of inequity such as selecting another person to use as their referent. Ultimately the subject may choose to exit the situation by deciding to transfer or quit the organization. Allen & White, 2002) Although previous Equity Theory research has concluded that under-rewarded subjects generally respond in a manner that is consistent with classic Equity Theory, it is not easy to predict which option they will select to bring their equity ratio into balance. This lack of specificity regarding what responses individuals experiencing inequity are likely to have is a serious shortcoming of the original Equity Theory. As such, the original Equity Theory eventually fell out of favor due in part to this inability to predict exactly how individuals would respond to an under-reward situation (e. . , lower their inputs, attempt to raise their outcomes, cognitively justifying the situation, decide to leave the organization). This lack of predictive ability of Equity Theory makes it much less useful to practitioners such as managers and human resource professionals who would greatly benefit if they could accurately predict the reactions that their employees would have to different inequitable situations. Accordingly, research on the topic of Equity Theory moved off in another direction. Inspired by legal research, the procedural justice stream of research began to focus more on the processes and procedures of how pay and recognition are determined, rather than the reactions that individuals have to them. Equity Theory research became less popular and eventually withered away. (Allen & White, 2002) While changing organizational culture is not an easy process, it can be accomplished by emphasizing a commitment to the individual employee. Despite the literature's heavy emphasis on the private sector, many of the elements of Theory Z can be found in public organizations. This article describes one city's effort to change culture by emphasizing fair treatment of organizational members, employee involvement, two-way communication, employees' personal development and recognition and camaraderie. During the past decade, organizations in the American society have faced great uncertainty. The challenge of meeting the increasing competition of the Japanese and Western Europeans in the international marketplace, massive reordering of corporations through leveraged acquisitions and consolidations, and rapidly changing technology have impacted organizational life in the private sector. Public sector organizations have faced the effects of the new federalism, the Tax Reform Act of 1986, taxpayer revolts, and numerous other events and actions which have caused disruption. These demands on American organizations, especially those coming from foreign competition, have forced leaders to question their management abilities and their organizations' commitment to excel. As part of this introspection, an examination of the underlying values, beliefs, and attitudes of organizations has been undertaken, especially in the popular, non-academic literature (Watson & Burkhalter, 1992) Job Design for service employees has been categorized as a â€Å"production line† approach or an â€Å"empowerment† approach (Bowen & Lawler, 1992). The production line approach, as its name implies, is based on a Tayloristic view. It is based on four tenets — simple tasks, clear division of labor, substitution of equipment and systems for employees, and little decision-making discretion of employees. This design seeks to gain customer satisfaction through efficiency, consistency, and low costs. It is imperative with the production line job design that IT is installed as a part of that design so as to facilitate matching it to the service encounters anticipated. The number and nature of the options from which the employee chooses should then be limited to matching the constraints on their decision-making authority. Any access to additional information would not only be of no use; it would actually deter efficiency. For example, if all hamburgers are prepared to the same degree of doneness, giving a customer encounter person the option of asking a customer how he/she would like the meat cooked would slow down the process. In fast food, cash registers (which also communicate orders to the backroom) prompt order-takers through the decisions that are allowable. Thus, the more standardized the service the more easily circumscribed technologically it can be(5) because the reality of the encounter is simple and presumed to be more easily captured than encounters in which provided services are customized and the outcome of any one such encounter is variable. The more circumscribed technologically the service is, the more efficiently the service can be performed but the more dependent upon the circumscribing technology customer encounter service personnel become. Mechling & Little, 2000, p. 65) The Two-factor Theory, or Motivation and Hygiene Theory, purports to differentiate between intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of the job. The authors referred to the intrinsic factors as content or motivators, and they include: achievement, advancement, the work itself, responsibility, and recognition. The extrinsic factors were referred to as hygiene has and included: company policy and administration, technical supervision, working conditions, salary, and interpersonal supervision. (Maidani, 1991) the applicability of Herzberg's Two-factor Theory of job Satisfaction among public and private sector employees. The study, therefore was designed to investigate the job content (motivators or intrinsic) and job context (hygiene or extrinsic) factors contributing to job satisfaction among those employees. Furthermore, the study attempted to determine whether using this instrument would yield the same results as those of Herzberg et al. (1959) using the critical incidents techniques. Hypothesis 1 was supported. Significant differences were found due to the fact that the satisfied group values motivator significantly more than the dissatisfied group. A t-value of 1. 98 indicated that a significant difference existed between the two groups. Hypothesis 2 was not supported. No significant differences were found between the satisfied and dissatisfied employees relating to value placed on hygiene factors. Hypothesis 3 was not supported as no significant differences were found between private and public sector employees on the value placed on motivator factors. (Maidani, 1991) The expectancy theory – formulated by Edward C Tolman in the 1930s – (whereby behavior rests on the instinctive tendency for individuals to balance the value of expected benefits against the expenditure of energy) falls into the same ‘stimulus-response' approach to motivation. It demonstrates that an individual's strength of motivation can be affected by the expectations of outcomes from certain actions and further strengthened by the individuals preferred outcome, as demonstrated by Victor H. Vroom in the 1960s. Individuals are consciously self-interested in the outcomes of their actions. For example, a worker may put in extra time and effort to a project and expect to be paid more money. That is his desired reward and what he expects. If he does not receive, what he expects his motivational level will fall dramatically. Elton Mayo, in the Hawthorne experiments concluded that individuals adjusted their motivational levels to fit in with the group. The individual values the approval and acceptance of others and will conform to the groups motivational standards in order to ‘fit in'. One important point about expectancy theory is that individual perceptions can be very different, and the motivation and behavior of individuals will vary considerably. It pays, therefore, in external stimuli to bear in mind that: 1. he routes to desired outcomes for individuals and teams are clear; and 2. individuals perceive the rewards or punishments in different ways according to their own values. There is a great need to treat people as individuals but as the 50:50 rule also indicates, other motivational factors should always be set in the context of the individual's managed environment. Leaders have a vital role to play in creating a motivational environment in which their team members can excel by in turn using the motivation within themselves. To be able to do this, we as leaders need to begin by looking at ourselves and getting our contribution right before we can criticize others. (Thomas, 2004, p. 61) Process models are based on the important insight that responses to (persuasive) messages do not only take the form of controlled, capacity-intensive cognitive processes, or only the form of simple automatic processes involving little working memory. Message processing may be dominated by either form, or it may blend the two, depending on our ability and motivation to think about the substance of a message. Affective processes appear to (a) influence levels of motivation and ability to process in a thoughtful manner, (b) guide the retrieval of information from memory, and (c) provide cues to simple responses (Babrow, 1993, p. 111) Dialectical perspectives on communication also embody multiple- process theory. Of course, dialectical analyses of one sort or another have been discussed for centuries (see Adler, 1952). As numerous dialectical thinkers have pointed out, however, several themes are consistent in these writings; these themes exemplify some of the most desirable potentialities of multiple- process theory. The most elemental theme in dialectical thinking is that of opposition; â€Å"dialectic either begins or ends with some sort of intellectual conflict, or develops and resolves around such oppositions† ( Adler, 1952 , p. 350). Dialectical opposites are â€Å"mutually conditioning† (the occurrence, existence, or meaning of one pole is conditioned by its opposite) and at the same time â€Å"mutually excluding† . For instance, sound presupposes but also excludes silence, and so too for amity and enmity, motion and stillness. (Babrow, 1993, p. 15) All of these theories thrive on the perception of the individual working to better themselves in some way. They differ in their methods, some look at how the individual will work for recognition, advancement, or just for encouragement. All of these methods are effective means of making individuals and groups work more efficiently. However, it is important to point out that each method does not work for the same situation. One must be able to differentiate between the theories in order to determine the best means.

What is American Dream - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1592 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2018/12/17 Category Philosophy Essay Type Research paper Level High school Tags: American Dream Essay Freedom Essay United States Essay Did you like this example? Introduction An American dream is a vision that aims at building a cohesive experience. It aims at the creation of equal opportunities for all race, gender, and age to pursue various tasks. The dream seeks to offer children same opportunities for education as well as a career without artificial barriers. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "What is American Dream" essay for you Create order The rights of the citizen should be protected, and people should exercise their rights freely. The government should protect the people from domestic and international threats. The laws of the land should be enforced in a just manner. However, achieving the above dream is not an easy task. Hard work, dedication, patience, and resources are required. A specific strategy must be put in place to ensure that the dream is made a reality. James Truslow Adams was an American writer and historian. He began his writing career after saving enough capital to enable him to shift his career from investment banking. In his book The Epic of America, he defines the American dream as a vision where the lives of all individuals are more prosperous, better, and fuller as opposed to the situation of the society at the time. In his dream, everyone was presented with the same opportunities based on abilities of the individuals. His vision did not entail acquiring motor cars and high wages but a social order that enabled both genders to attain to the fullest stature of which the individuals are capable. It also entailed recognition of people for who they are and not based on circumstances of birth or position. However, Adams dream has changed and what he thought the country would be has changed. The following are reasons why his dream has turned, and his expectations are no longer the reality (Adams 404). Education expenses have skyrocketed in the current generation. Educating a child till she or he gets employment have become difficult especially for middle-class citizens. The government and other private school owners have taken the opportunity to exploit people in the name of education. The government has even come up with a loan program where individuals are offered capital to help them pursue education. However, there is an interest rate charged on every beneficiary of the program. As a result of this, students from average backgrounds have no option rather than acquire the loan if they have to finish school. The interest grows with time, and since these individuals cannot pay the loan at once even after getting a job, the loan accumulates burying them in debts and making their lives difficult. If the situation is analyzed critically, the conclusion is that the government is taking advantage of its poor citizen and exploiting them. When the government makes education cost high th en takes advantage of offering those who cant afford loans only to charge them high-interest rates, is a clear evidence that the American dream has changed. This is not how the visionaries projected the future to be since the idea sought to achieve equal education opportunities without artificial barriers (Canode 75). The generation present is made up of two major groups; those who are debt-free and the others. The debt-free people are the rich who have many business operations all over the country. These are owners of the big corporations where the ordinary citizens work. They are the individuals who make the rules since some of these people are politicians or have political influence. These people are the real estate owners where the poor rent and they decide when to raise the rent or lower it. The poor on the other hand have to depend on wages for survival. Most of them work in corporations where the new technology is making them more irrelevant as time goes by. Due to the reduced labor demand, competition for the available jobs increases. This leads to low payment of wages due to the surplus labor. In order to survive, these individuals are forced to take up loans to fulfill various tasks. These loans are offered at high rates that make it difficult for the poor to progress economically. The A merican dream emphasized on equal opportunities for everyone, and since this is not the case, it means that the dream has failed (Callahan 267). The citizens lives are prioritized in the American dream. People cannot perform various functions if they are unwell and weak. Therefore, proper healthcare services should be provided to all citizens. People should access these facilities when they feel sick not when they have money. The living cost has skyrocketed, and people are unable to afford healthcare facilities. Those who are employed have medical insurances. However, the medical insurance is unable to cover all the costs required for treatment. Due to this, people are forced to use their savings to carter for the remaining cost. The corporations on the hand are shifting the healthcare costs on individuals so that they can reduce expenses and increase profits. The income for these individuals has stagnated due to low demand for human labor. As a result of this, peoples lives have hardened due to increase in healthcare burden. The American vision aimed at an affordable provision of health services and the dream has failed to a chieve the above (Canode 80). A great emphasis is put on family welfare in the American dream. In the vision, the familys needs should be met at ease where one parent can work while the other one takes cares of the children. The wages of the working individual should be able to satisfy the needs of the family without other sources of income. This is the projected American dream which it is up to now. Stay-at-home parenting is a thing of the past due to the high cost of living and low wages offered in the most working environment. Both parents are forced to work while they leave their responsibilities to other individuals. They do so with the aim of increasing the revenue of the family so that the family can be able to acquire the essential commodities required and invest some for future use. While doing so, the parent-child bonding has been lost and the relationship between the two affected. It is clear that the dream has not been actualized since the projected objectives have not been achieved. Therefore, the Am erican dream has failed to meet its vision (Hauhart 148). All work with no play makes Jack a dull boy. As the saying goes, people need time away from work to refresh and involve themselves in curriculum activities. These activities help the individuals develop social skills to enable them to interact freely with each other as they spend personal time with their loved ones. During this period, people travel to different areas to undertake vacations and to refresh. During these periods, money and resources are spent as well as time. According to the American dream, people should be in a capacity to do the above. However, very few have the capability of undertaking a vacation. The capital available is insufficient for such expenditures. People would rather save than spend it for luxurious activities. People view vacations as wastage of time. Time in peoples mind is money since every minute spent doing nothing could be used to create wealth. Those who may be willing to undertake such vacations are finding themselves in a terrible place since th e corporations they work for find it difficult to release them. The reason for this is when they are away, they will be getting an income they have not worked for. In order to maintain ones job, people are doing away with vacations working throughout the year. Therefore, this shows that the American dream has failed (Callahan 258). In the American dream, the governing bodies such as the government should be at the front line of ensuring fairness for all. These institutions should ensure that there is fairness in everywhere doing whatever is necessary to achieve this. However, this is not the case. The government is suppressing the small businesses by putting up regulations that prevent them from expanding or carrying out the expected targeted activity. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are unable to start up their ideas. Through this, the big and established companies benefit since there is reduced competition from the new businesses. Through this, the American dream is dying since these government regulations have increased the poverty levels and increased overreliance on employment as a source of income. The government should come up with ways make business startup process easy to achieve the vision (Hauhart 153). Conclusion The projection of the American dream has failed to be accomplished in almost all levels. People existing in the present generation are faced with many challenges that could have been addressed by the American dream. People are suffering in many ways while the gap between the poor and the rich have widened. The government that is supposed to protect everyone is siding with the rich in suppressing the poor. The reason for this is the fact that majority of those in the state is the rich and may fail to understand the struggles of the ordinary citizens. The fairness in education, health, religion, and ethnicity among others is yet to be achieved. Therefore, the American dream has failed in achieving its core objective. Works Cited Adams, James T. The Epic of America. 2017. Callahan, William A. Dreaming as a critical discourse of national belonging: China Dream, American Dream and world dream. Nations and Nationalism, vol. 23, no.? 2,? 2017, pp. 248-270. Canode, Jillian L. Hunting the American Dream. Supernatural and Philosophy, 2013, pp.? 74-82. Hauhart, Robert C. The American Dream Critically Examined. Seeking the American Dream, 2016, pp.? 135-155.