Understanding Social Exchange Theory

Understanding Social Exchange Theory Social exchange theory is a model for interpreting society as a series of interactions between people that are based on estimates of rewards and punishments. According to this view, our interactions are determined by the rewards or punishments that we expect to receive from others, which we evaluate using a  cost-benefit analysis  model (whether consciously or subconsciously). Overview Central to the social exchange theory is the idea that an interaction that elicits approval from another person is more likely to be repeated than an interaction that elicits disapproval. We can thus predict whether a particular interaction will be repeated by calculating the degree of reward (approval) or punishment (disapproval) resulting from the interaction. If the reward for an interaction exceeds the punishment, then the interaction is likely to occur or continue. According to this theory, the formula for predicting the behavior of any individual in any situation is: Behavior (profits) Rewards of interaction – costs of interaction. Rewards can come in many forms: social recognition, money, gifts, and even subtle everyday gestures like a smile, nod, or pat on the back. Punishments also come in many forms, from extremes like public humiliation, beating, or execution, to subtle gestures like a raised eyebrow or a frown. While social exchange theory is found in economics and psychology, it was first developed by the sociologist George Homans, who wrote about it in an essay titled Social Behavior as Exchange. Later, sociologists Peter Blau and Richard Emerson further developed the theory. Example A simple example of social exchange theory can be seen in the interaction of asking someone out on a date. If the person says yes, you have gained a reward and are likely to repeat the interaction by asking that person out again, or by asking someone else out. On the other hand, if you ask someone out on a date and they reply, â€Å"No way!† then you have received a punishment that will probably cause you to shy away from repeating this type of interaction with the same person in the future. Basic Assumptions of Social Exchange Theory People who are involved in the interaction are rationally seeking to maximize their profits.Most gratification among humans comes from others.People have access to information about social, economic, and psychological aspects of their interactions that allow them to consider the alternative, more profitable situations relative to their present situation.People are goal oriented in a freely competitive system.The exchange operates within cultural norms.Social credit is preferred over social indebtedness.The more deprived the individual feels in terms of an act, the more the person will assign a value to it.People are rational and calculate the best possible means to compete in rewarding situations. The same is true of punishment avoidance situations. Critiques Many critique this theory for presuming that people always make rational decisions, and point out that this theoretical model fails to capture the power that emotions play in our daily lives and in our interactions with others. This theory also undercuts the power of social structures and forces, which unconsciously shape our perception of the world and our experiences within it, and play a strong role in shaping our interactions with others.

Multiculturalism and its benefits.

Multiculturalism and its benefits. Multiculturalism(Introduction)The word multiculturalism has been touted and expounded on for many years. This is due to extensive immigration as well as to the world becoming a much smaller place because of communication technology, world travel and international trade. It obviously has some importance in our society and its benefits would probably not be quite as appreciated if we could see a time and a place where such a practice was not encouraged.(Body)(1.Trade Investment)Multiculturalism encourages good relations with different nationalities be they local students, foreign students, visiting workers or visiting trade officials. Even immigrants with relatives and friends overseas provide good trade and investment contacts. Better trade relations ensures the exchange of different goods, this is important where vital imports like wheat and electronics is concerned.The influx of overseas investment is necessary in the growth of our local industries and this cannot be done if other nations hear about our poor civic race relations, particularly towards people who had originated from their shores.Australia realized this uncomfortable fact when certain conservative politicians made speeches sanctioning a whiter country with less tolerance for ethnic migrants. Its Asian neighbours responded by sending less students and making less business investments.(2.Science Education)The learning of different technologies from other countries and the import of talented professional foreigners is a practice that the United States, Japan and Singapore have executed with positive impact. In both countries there exist a group of highly skilled expatriate workers, quite a few who have decided to permanently make these countries their home. Also, the employment of foreign professors and the attendance of foreign graduate students raises the level of information exchange and technical knowledge of universities.The learning of different cultures in the area of history, literature, s cience and...

Medication for ADHD Children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Medication for ADHD Children - Essay Example It is also important to note that administration of different medications of ADHD achieves treatment results differently for different patients. Medication for ADHD Children Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a neurobehavioral condition that is common among children. The behavior can be regarded as an inappropriate developmental behavior with impairing degrees of hyperactivity and inattentitiveness. ADHD disorder is often accompanied by a significant co-morbidity. However, parents have hope since there are various methods of treating children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Treatment includes a variety of stimulants that are used to reduce hyperactivity and inattentiveness. These medications have sustained release of newer versions for improvement over previous disadvantages (Tobaiqy, et al., 2011, p.212). However, children with ADHD have been given medications that only help contain the situation and not to treat the disorder for a permanent solution with res pect to medication. Research claims have brought about controversial issues with regards to whether ADHD is wholly a biological illness causes a structural defect of the brain. ADHD medications that are being currently used to suppress and treat the individuals with disorder predominantly base its opinion on the fact that the disorder is a mixture of genetic disorder and environmental aspects. It is clear that medications focus on the brain since there are clear-cut evidence through differences of brains of non-ADHD patients and those with the disorder. This brings forth the medications focusing on the brain though there is no clear-cut evidence on how these brain differences result in ADHD. Medications being given to children with attention deficit disorder such as stimulants, antidepressants and even therapy can surely help treat the situation considering the prove of the disorder being a biological illness. However, medications for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder needs r ethinking and advancement considering the fact that those patients with the disorder are biologically fit and normal. Dynamics are paramount given the fact that despite biological aspects contributing widely to hyperactivity, impulsivity and lack of attention, the patients found to have manifestations of these behavior are proved not to have any deficiencies biologically. It is important that these children receive better treatment since attention deficit disorder is a core issue of concern since these patients cannot work on or perform duties that are essential in the society. Despite ADHD patients non-performance they have the tendency of being attentive and performing tasks that are interesting and therefore cannot be left out in normal education. Governments have placed children with ADHD into consideration by giving them budgetary and policy priority to assist their education through improvement of the system of education in their favor. The principle of inclusive education has enabled children with ADHD to receive quality education despite shortcomings. Governments have encouraged participation of organizations, parents, and communities to facilitate inclusive education for these children. There are many stimulants for treating ADHD and each child may respond differently to the different stimulants. Some medications that work for one child may not work for

Community Boundaries Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Community Boundaries Paper - Essay Example A healthy community encompassed balance and dynamic relationship between people, location, and the social system. To analyze the community of Jefferson County, Birmingham, Alabama, a description will be made in terms of people, location, and social system. Community Boundaries Environmental Boundaries (Location). A community is usually defined by geographic and political boundaries (Hunt, 2009, 10). Environmental boundaries may determine the availability of health services to the consumers of health care. Jefferson County has 1113 square miles of land area and 11.2 square miles of water area. The number of people living per square mile is high, which is 598 people per square mile thus, in case of an epidemic or occurrence of a communicable disease, the crowded location of people in the community may predispose the spread of a certain disease. Jefferson County’s boundaries include Walker County and Blount County in the North, Shelby County in the south, St. Clair County in east , and Tuscaloosa County in west. Majority of the people in Jefferson County are pro-Republicans (City-Data.com, 2003-2010, n.p.). A total of 34 hospitals are located in the Jefferson County, Alabama and majority of them focus on children and women’s health – a significant indicator why infant death rate decreases, while female population is greater than the male, and why the community transitioned to a child-developing community. Environmental Relationship (People). The diversity of the individuals living in a community contributes to the overall character of the community (Hunt, 2009, 9). To understand people and environmental relationship, it is essential to know the vital statistics and demographics of the community. For instance, Jefferson County is a diverse community, composed mainly of neighbors who are are either single/married, retirees of all ages, children, and interracial couples from Hispanics, Whites, Blacks, and others. Described in detail below are the empirical statistics of Jefferson County community. According to the July 2009 Census of the City-Data.com, Jefferson County has a total population of 665,027 with 89% urban and 11% rural: male has 312,089 (47.1%) rate while female has 349,958 (52.9%). The median age of male residents is 34 years old while female median age is 38 years old. Approximately, there are 598 people living per square mile. Majority of the people in in Jefferson County works in the industry of educational, health, and social services (21.8%) but there are also 8.7% of unemployed individuals. Several races live in Jefferson County particularly; White Non-Hispanic (53.9%), Black Non-Hispanic (40.6%), Hispanic or Latino (3.1%), Asian (1.4%), and two or more races (0.7%). The births per 1000 population from 2000-2006 is 14 while the death rate is 11. Infant death per 1000 live births is 11.5 and there are 13% members of the population who are not enrolled in health insurance program. Majority of the population is in a familial household with 2 members (City-Data.com, 2003-2010, n.p.). The characteristics of the people in the community define community health care needs thus, the suburban, female-domineering, married population of Jefferson County may promote families that are caring, nurturing, and strong. In addition, the nuclear-type family of Jefferson County may lead to self-reliance and isolation while median age of 30 and above is essential to the governing structure.

Hard factors of TQM implementation in the Project division at GASCO Essay

Hard factors of TQM implementation in the Project division at GASCO - Essay Example Proper implementation of the procedure IP-PR-021 would offer solutions to this problem. The CTN format does not have provisions for the history of the CTN. As a result, the CTN goes through the approval process of the GASCO shareholders without their knowledge of the history of the CTN in the firm. They need adequate knowledge on the importance of CTN, in order to determine whether it is worth the budgetary allocations. Modifying the formats of the CTN to would include its history would provide adequate knowledge. Since there is no analysis of the main cause of CTN, there is a wrong evaluation of the KPI. The main factor put into consideration when evaluating KPI is CTN. Therefore, understanding the causes of CTN in the organization would help in preventing their occurrence in future. This is however possible if there was a proper procedure of solving the CTN put in place. GASCO, while calculating the average KPI does so division wise. This omits the evaluation of the actual performa nce in each department. There is however a high likelihood of some of the departments doing very well, while others have poor performances. There is however no reflection of this in the KPI. Applying KPI at the department level would solve this problem. Finally, there is poor and low communication of the KPI to the engineer’s level. This makes information flow in this level inadequate. As a solution, proper communication of the KPI to all parties would solve all communication problems available. Research questions With reference to the hard factors of TQM, this research will try to establish how effectively GASCO utilizes these factors to achieve organizational performance. How efficiently does GASCO use TQM in achieving its organizational goals? To what extent does GASCO staff exhibit high quality standards in serving their customers? How effectively does GASCO as an organization use TQM in managing its projects? What is the overall impact of TQM in satisfactorily serving cu stomers at GASCO? To what extent does GASCO use TQM in its Business Support Activities? Objectives of the report TQM, being an important element in achieving organizational performance, contributes to the achievement of organizational goals and objectives (Salaheldin 2009, p. 216). The main objective of this report is establishing the extent to which TQM contributes to organizational performance, with reference to GASCO. Further, since there are two types of TQM, the soft factors and the hard factors, this report hopes to establish the impact of proper use and application of the hard factors in an organizational setting. Finally, it will establish whether there is any relationship between proper maintenance of QMS, relative to GASCO QMS. Aims of the report The main aim of this report is to establish whether GASCO has QMS and the impact that hard TQM factors have on the overall performance of the organization. Data analysis The time taken by employees in assessing resources significa ntly determines their output (Grover, et al. 2006, p. 450-458). Subsequently, this determines the overall organizational performance. The longer an employee takes while assessing resources; the lower is their level of productivity. According to data obtained, 11 respondents agreed that the period it takes for an employee to access resources was good. This positively contributes to overall organizat

Bank of China Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Bank of China - Case Study Example (www.bochk.com)2 The organization recruits talent from a variety of professional and educational backgrounds by hiring new graduates. The bank strives hard to increase the proportion local employees at BOCHK and it is reported that 98.21% of the employees working were local citizens, the trend which is increasing year after year significantly. The organization promotes equal employment opportunity giving importance to health, encouraging the workforce through effective incentives, career development and training, and advocates corporate culture of honesty and integrity, performance, accountability, creativity and harmoniousness. With such good track record of increasing trends in financial reports, BOCHK is leader in the market which is revealed by the banks future strategy for balanced business and regional development strategy through optimizing its business, customer and revenue structures by taking advantage of market adjustments.

Disadvantages of the Present Jury System Research Paper

Disadvantages of the Present Jury System - Research Paper Example The present jury system has also been found to have the limitation in that; some defendants during trail go for the jury so as to delay to the system (Simon, 1995). Delaying the whole process exert pressure on the Crown Prosecution Service so as to cut down the charge with respect to the defendant persuading guilty. It has also been found that, delaying the process because the defendant choosing jury during trial makes the prosecution witness not to attend the trial. This weakens their follow-ups if they do not appear during the trial, thus increasing chances of acquittal (Simon, 1995). Under the present jury system, if the defendants are taken to remand, they enjoy extra time that the convicted prisoners are not given. For this reason, the time the defendants spend on remand is subtracted from any final sentence in prison. This has the implication that the trial will be put off as much as possible so as to maximize the amount of sentence while living under better conditions. This is the long last ends up wasting a lot of time and money (Simon, 1995).   The power that the present jury system has is also a source of several disadvantages that affect the system. Since any power can be abused, makes it easy for juries coming to court to have individual prejudices and biases thus not guaranteeing fair verdict (Abramson, 2008). Moreover, the fact that the present jury system is composed of laypersons; this brings in the issue of effectiveness during the trial process. When jurors are faced with murder cases, there is a likelihood that they are experiencing such a situation for the first time. There might also be no adequate frame of reference thus affecting the final decision (Abramson, 2008).