Criminology

1. Do ecological approach have a valid place in contemporary criminological thinking Why or why not
    The ecological approach, popularized by the University of Chicagos Sociology Department, acknowledges the primary impact of social structures and physical environmental factors in honing human behaviour. The approach held that the city is a microcosm therefore examining city interactions and norms is to understand the behavioral patterns of its inhabitants as well. The prevalence of crimes are examined using ecological research methodologies juxtaposing the  individual and community and social structures and functions to determine and decide solutions to criminality in the city. However, in these modern times, does the ecological approach really have a valid place in criminology
    In response to this question, I believe that the ecological approach is still considerably important in criminological studies. Presently, it can be noted that criminal incidences and social delinquents are confined, in the most parts, in certain areas of the city. One would need no formal background in sociology or criminology to be able to confidently say that the characteristics of neighborhoods is dynamically related to crime rates and delinquency. The findings of the the study conducted by Clifford Shaw and Henry D. McKay (1942) still holds sway. Their studies found that the citys highest rates of delinquency can be found on areas with palpable physical deteriorations and steadily decreasing residents characterized by threshold poverty or substantially low family income and high percentage of immigrant residents.
    Therefore, in 1942 as it is today, criminal behavior systems rather than individual offenders should be the locus of studies on crime prevention and criminal rehabilitation. In this respect, the ecological approach in criminology studies by itself creates an irreplaceable niche. It would be helpful in providing holistic analyses of crimes and well-rounded crime prevention programs.
   
2. A few years ago, an Arizona judge offered a rapist, upon his third conviction, a choice of sentences. He could either serve thirty years in jail or permit himself to be castrated. Discuss the merits of the judges offer in terms of constitutionality(the Eighth Amendments ban on  cruel and unusual punishment ), proportionality and potential for crime prevention.
    In Furman v Georgia (1972), a United States Supreme Court justice declared a set of principles, four in all, to be used in determining whether a particular punishment is violative of the provision laid down by the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The honorable judge provided that a punishment is  cruel and unusual  if 1) it is, by its severity,  degrading to human dignity  2)  obviously inflicted in wholly arbitrary fashion  3)  clearly and totally rejected throughout society  and 4)  patently unnecessary  ( Furman v Georgia, 1972). With this particular court ruling in mind, it can be easily said that the judges offer is unconstitutional and disproportional and without palpable effects in crime reduction or in curbing of an individuals criminal intent.
    Needless to say, the judges offer is an unusual occurrence in the history of the criminal justice system Its unconstitutionality lies in the fact that it is an unusual punishment and the reason behind this is that society would not and do not necessarily hand such punishment even  for an unrepentant sexual delinquent. The fact that such punishment is unusual proves that  it is  clearly...rejected throughout society . Also, given that the accused was already convicted in two counts of rape prior to the latest offense, said punishment of castration would fail to proportionally measure with the gravity of the crime committed. It is also interesting to note that castration would not, in a great part, affect sexual drives or sexual functions. Mario J.P. Dennis, a clinical director remarked of castration that it  does not completely erase sexual arousal or function. It doesnt completely obliterate arousal, drive or the ability to commit a sex act  (as cited in  Rondeaux, 2006, p. B01). Hence, the proposed punishment would basically be meaningless. On the question of whether or not handing punishment such as castration to sex offenders would reduce incidences of rape and sexual assault, said correlation still needs to be established. Although it may instill fear at the onset, I personally doubt whether it could, in any way, affect the behaviors of chronic sex offenders.
    Presented with these arguments, it is clear that the judges offer is not only unconstitutional and disproportional to the offense but it is also a potentially ineffective deterrent to sex offenders.

 TransnationalInternational Crimes
This paper will identify three countries with high homicide rates and three countries with low homicide rates. Then economic, socio-economic, educational and other demographic indicators will be used to relate to these countries homicide rates. Any relationships between these factors and homicide rates will be explained in the end.

Countries Selected and their Homicide Rates
The countries with the highest murder rates that have been selected are Colombia with the homicide rate of 69.98 per 100,000 of population, Honduras with the homicide rate of 154.02 per 100,000 of population and Swaziland with homicide rate of 93.32 per 100,000 of population (MapXL Inc., 2009).
The countries with the lowest murder rates that have been selected are Saudi Arabia with the homicide rate of 0.71 per 100,000 of population, Oman with the homicide rate of 0.91 per 100,000 of population and Senegal with homicide rate of 0.33 per 100,000 of population (MapXL Inc., 2009)

Level of Education and Homicide Rates
Colombia which has one of the highest murder rates has literacy rate of 93 in urban areas and 67 in rural areas (U.S. Department of State, 2009). The compulsory education is 9 years but in rural areas only 5 years are offered. Literacy level in Honduras in almost 83 and compulsory period education is 6 years (U.S. Department of State, 2009). There is no compulsory education in Swaziland and the level of literacy is 82 (U.S. Department of State, 2009).
Saudi Arabia which has one of the lowest homicide rates has literacy level of 78.8. Sultanate of Oman has literacy level of around 80 (U.S. Department of State, 2009). Senegal which is another country with low homicide rate has literacy level of around 59 (U.S. Department of State, 2009). Attendance rate of middle school and secondary school is only 26.5 and 11 (U.S. Department of State, 2009). Therefore there is no consistent relationship between levels of education and homicide rates as Colombia has a very high educational level but still the murder rate is very high and the other countries such as Oman, Saudi Arabia, Swaziland and Honduras have almost same level of education and literacy levels but still the murder rates are very different.

Economic Indicators and Homicide Rates
Yes there is a consistent relationship between economic indicators     and homicide rates of the given countries. The GDP per capita of Colombia was 9,200 in 2008, unemployment rate was 11 and almost half the population lives below the poverty line (CIA, 2009). In 2008, Honduras had a GDP per capita of 4,400, unemployment rate of 3.5 and 50.7 of the population lived below the poverty line (CIA, 2009). Swazi had per capita income of 4,400 in 2008, 40 of the population was unemployed and almost 70 of the population was below the poverty line (CIA, 2009).
Saudi Arabia had a GDP per capita of 20,500 in 2008, unemployment rate of 12 (CIA, 2009) and none of the people are living below the poverty line. Oman had GDP per capita of 20,200 in 2008, unemployment level of 15 and none of the population was living below the poverty line (CIA, 2009). Therefore there is a high correlation between the unemployment rate and homicide rate in the population. Poverty level also has a positive relationship with homicide rate. The GDP per capita has a consistent negative relationship with homicide rate of a country. The higher the GDP per capita, lower the homicide rate.

Technological and Social Indicators related to Homicide level
The number of television broadcast stations, internet hosts, cell phone users and internet users are the main indicators of technological advancement in a country and are related to the homicide rate of a country. Honduras has 11 television broadcast stations, 16,000 internet hosts, 6 million cell phone users and 700,000 internet users as of 2008 (CIA, 2009). In Swaziland, there are 12 television broadcast stations, 2,600 internet hosts, 0.5 million cell phone users and 48,000 internet users as of 2008 (CIA, 2009).
Saudi Arabia has 117 television broadcast stations, 0.5 million internet hosts, 36 million cell phone users and 7.7 million internet users as of 2008 (CIA, 2009). Senegal has 1.02 million internet users, 5.4 million cell phone users although it is a very small country (CIA, 2009). Oman has 3.2 million cell phone users and 0.5 million internet users despite of its small population (CIA, 2009).
Therefore some of the technological advancements of a country also have a role to play in the homicide rate of the country.

Explanations of the Relationships
The main reason for the relationship between the education level of a country and homicide rate is that when the general population is highly educated, their involvement in drug addictions and other crimes is lower which lead to lower homicide levels. In a country where the general population is not educated much, the homicide rates are high because less educated people are more likely to get frustrated with their lives and get involved in murdering someone.
Economic indicators such as poverty and unemployment rate are highly related to the homicide rate of a country. This is because when there is high unemployment in a country, people are more likely to get involved in crimes such as robberies, burglaries and gang wars which are the drivers of murder rate. When most of the population is below the poverty line, this shows that most of the population does not have enough money to fulfill their basic needs, so the population is more frustrated and have issues in their lives. This motivates them to kill as there is nothing to look forward to.
Higher levels of technological advancements in a country show that the country is progressing and the people have more facilities than before. Therefore the countries with low homicide rates have a better communication infrastructure and entertainment which causes them to stay away from crimes which may cause homicide.

Lucky is a story of struggle of a rape victim. Writer Alice Sebold tells in her book what difficulties a girl, a victim of rape, faces in the society. In the story, a college student who has been raped and beaten in a park near her campus has isolated herself from her friends, teachers and the people she knew. The reason is that people view rape as a negative and real low crime to commit. However, Alice failed to give solution to many problems she herself highlighted in the book.
The rape negatively impacted Alice Sebold in a significant way. Her self-esteem was impacted enormously, where she even at a point was self-deprived of herself. In addition, because being raped has crashed Alice in many ways, readers see all over the novel that there are a lot of ups and downs in her confidence.
Alice starts writing, though not successfully, during her struggle with drugs. Its not until after she quits using that her writing begins to take a turn for the better as well as her mental state of mind. This shows that she is beginning to recognize her choices and has hit a crossroad in her life. Many women come across the same trail, and understand that they can live as a victim all their lives and let this define them or they can choose to accept the effects and move on with their lives. By Alice completing her novel she has found her own way of coping by recognizing and accepting the events that have touched her life.
One can see that although the worse has happened to Alice, still she deals with the situation with courage and accepts the inevitable. On the other hand, there is a picture where Alices confidence is shown to be very low. She has difficulty keeping up her confidence and the way she thinks about herself. However, the writer has not emphasized on the point that it is confidence that determines the way you treat and view yourself.
The writer has failed to explain the harshness of the crime of rape. This crime is very harsh to deal with, in order to help aid, or cure one that has been affected. Some people believe that being raped is a disease, due to the aftermath of the way people think of the victim. In the case with Alice, it is shown from the book itself that plenty of people have tried to help her. However, as one will learn after going through this book that there is no cure that anyone can offer. Alices mother has tried to help her by talking to her and trying to divert her attention in other things. Alices closest friends even tried to help as much as possible by lending a hand or doing things for her. Her teacher even tried to get out all of the anger by letting her write up a poem in class about the rapist. Hence, after doing as much as everyone possibly could do, at the end it got nowhere because it was up to Alice to fight it out of her system and get over it.
Although Lucky is an excellent book in portraying the problems of a rape victim, the writer has left many questions unanswered in the minds of readers. We can conclude that Alice is a woman who just wanted to be accepted in society again, and to be liked by all the guys she has crushes on.
Alice lastly realizes that she is the only one that can save herself not anyone else. It takes her a long time to come to this understanding. During this time she is completely destroyed and cannot stand to see other males. She is still affected by this even after she comes to the understanding that she has to save herself. No one should have to go through situations like Alice has had to go through. Alice tells about how she had to struggle with the situations in her live. She tells a story of how she was broken completely down to nothing and had to struggle and look everywhere for answers and solace. Alices story is not that of total lose and destruction. She shows that there is hope that things will get better. Alice demonstrates to readers that one has to strive and never ever give up.

The paper examines social learning theory and its application to criminology as it is one of the behavioral theories that are widely applied today in attempting to explain criminal behaviors and how best to minimize crimes.
Literature review
The application of social learning theory to criminology focusing on organized crime since they happen in the context of gang leaders or senior bosses of syndicate groups influencing their members within specific crime environment.
Theory
According to Julian B. Rotter a persons personality and character is a clear indication of the persons interaction with the surrounding environment (Akers  Gary, 2003).
Research Design and Methodology
Elements Behavior modeling has been defined as the possibility of an individual to take up a specific behavior just by being in a specific situation (Akers  Christine, 2004). Expectancies on the other hand are modeled from a persons past experiences. The value of reinforcement is more or less the desirability of the expected results or outcomes.
Hypothesis The social learning theory is not a reliable approach to behavior modeling in finding solutions to stopping organized crime.
Variables A persons behavior is dependent on expectancy and the reinforcement (Akers  Gary, 2003, p. 216)
Data Prisoners sourced from police headquarters and the suspects and criminals in police custody and youth of the society.
Method Observation using live models and later create a forum for the subjects involved. After the forum, the above formula will be applied to verify if the potential to remodel their behavior is high or low.
Study Limitations
Limitations The fact that not everyone will be genuine in the practice. People who will be appointed to carry out the research might not be granted access to the police head quarters. Getting professionally trained researchers to carry out this practice.
Value of the Study
Value This study will be a great milestone when it comes to preventing chances of organized groups cropping from the youth in the society.

Most youth are victims of peer pressure and hence they get easily pulled into gangs, just from the pressure from their peers. Knowing how to reverse this cycle will yield great benefits to the global community.

    Juvenile delinquency refers to the behavior of children which is disapproved by the society. Juveniles are people under the age of majority. Children who commit crimes are tried in a court system that is different from the adult court system. Juvenile delinquency involves social actions by children that can be defined as deviant or antisocial by established customs. In most cases, a juvenile delinquent is a person below 18 years who is found to have violated criminal laws and thus subject to punishment by a childrens court (Cristian, 2005).
Causes of juvenile delinquency
    Different groups of professionals give variant interpretations of juvenile behavior. The biological theory is based on the fact that criminals are different from other people in their organic composition and this explains their criminal behavior. Other explanations hold that criminal activities are due to sociological factors and the social life of the offenders. The theory connects environmental factors to criminal activities of the offenders. For in this case, peer group influence may be a strong determining factor in the behavior of juveniles or the behavior of the child may be due to family issues (Mandel, 2009). Other people also hold that juvenile crime is due to socio-economic factors like poverty, family breakdown or the social system (Rou
ek, 1958). Juvenile crime can also be caused by psychological factors due to the developmental stages that the children may be going through. During growth and development, the child focuses much attention on setline conflicts between the insensible derives and the adult world. The behaviors of individuals will be shaped by how they try to control the impulses of their actions. In most cases, some of the factors will generally overlap for some people (Cynthia, 2009).


Juvenile justice system
    The juvenile justice system is a special system and different from the adult criminal courts. The two have some differences and similarities. The basic elements of the juvenile system are the status offender. Status offender is a person charged with an offence that would otherwise not be so if it was committed by an adult. For example, eloping from home, improper sexual actions, truancy, smoking or use of alcohol before the requisite age and lose of parental control. The laws used to prevent status offenses are more an effort by the society to prevent future harm to the minors and the community rather than as a form of punishment. Status offenses is not considered a serious crime to warrant imprisonment but the major concern is the influence of magnifying such behavior  into crimes that may need the attention of law enforcement officials. Community based programs are preferred instead of incarceration like in the case of adults. Although arrests are usually carried out, incarceration is not instituted. In particular cases, detention is used as the final solution is sought. Another option may be placement in healthier homes in order to alter and enhance the living conditions and possibly reform the child. There are programs like drug rehabilitation, anger control programs, after care behavior and education used to combat status offenses (Calderon, 2006).
    The law enforcement agencies are equally involved in the juvenile justice system and they are given a lot of discretion in the process. The officers may be exposed to matters that may include their judgment on family background that does not require criminal prosecution. The arrests occur in very serious offences and this depends to the discretion of the law enforcement officers. The delinquent offender is then taken to the juvenile court where the decision is taken. The procedure is the same as the preliminary bail trial or indictment and the mention of the charges. The children are not entitled to constitutional rights to bail like the adults. The court basically decides whether the child can be released into the care of the parents put the child into temporary care of the state or in protective institutions awaiting the court decision or transfer. Generally, those that are more likely to run away are not released but a petition must be drawn within 24 hours. A child can only be detained if there is probable evidence that they did commit the crime. The same applies to the adult justice system but the adults have more control over the bail process. The indictment process is similar except that the juvenile system is a bit faster and the juveniles are not entitled to jury trials. The hearings are usually adjucatory where the judge makes the final decision and they are closed to the public. The findings of both justice systems are dispositions which may include release, fines, probation, rehabilitation programs or institutionalization (Calderon, 2006).
    The intake process is important in the decision making. The parole officials, the defense and prosecution attorneys and the judge must attempt to find a solution. Apart from plea bargaining, the juvenile offences can lead to several other options. The interrogation process takes into consideration factors like family, social status. Religion, academic level, work skills, emotional issues and past history of crimes and ultimately influences the decision in both adult and juvenile systems. While in the adult system the raised issue is whether the defendant is guilty or not, in juvenile system, the offender must be found to be delinquent beyond reasonable doubt (Snyder, 1995).
The role of the police and community
    The communities and the police must collaborate in order to combat juvenile crimes effectively. The police have the legal mandate to fight crime while the communities are the major culprits of such crimes. The communities are in better position to understand the behavior of the children since they commit the crimes within the communities. The communities also have a major role to play in reducing juvenile delinquency bearing in mind that most of the causes of these crimes stem from the community (Wootton  Heck, 2002). The community should endeavor to offer the youth alternative and positive ways to value their lives especially through education. The juvenile police are supposed to investigate and establish the purpose of all crimes as per the criminal procedure code. The police must establish facts about the criminal acts and the required correctional measures. They also team up with other social workers to arrange programs aimed at rehabilitating the delinquents. The police are also responsible in enforcing all legislation related to juvenile delinquency.

Death penalty, also known as capital punishment, can be defined as the execution of an individual through a judicial process as a punishment for a crime committed. Crimes that can elicit capital punishment are normally referred to as capital crimes or offenses. Capital in this context owes its origin to a Latin word capitalis that means regarding the head. Initially, the punishment for a capital offense was severing the head. Death penalty has always existed in every society and thus has almost attained a universal status, except for a few states that prescribe to religions that condemn it.
    Historically, execution of criminals and political opponents has always existed as a way to both punish crime and subdue political dissent. Some of the crimes that attract capital punishment in most countries include espionage, murder, and treason. Some societies also rate sexual offenses as capital and thus attract death penalty. Such sexual crimes may include, rape, incest, adultery and sodomy. Individuals who commit religious crimes like apostasy in Islamic states are also subjects of capital punishment. Some countries also rate crimes such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, and serious cases of corruption as crimes worth capital punishment. In military circles, cowardice, desertion, insubordination, and mutiny are acts that easily attract capital punishment.
    The methods that have been employed have been changing from severe, painful and long processes to short painless methods that limit the suffering of the victim. Some of the methods that were traditionally applied included boiling to death, wheel breaking, slow slicing, flaying, crucifixion, crushing, burning, stoning, decapitation and so on. Prosecution by firing squad was later adopted. Other more human methods that were adopted included guillotine in France, hanging, suffocation, and dropping from high points. The current methods that are in application include the electric chair, gas chambers and lethal injection. Some countries have not yet upgraded their methods and thus still apply some of the painful traditional ways (Cottrell, 2004).
Death penalty in the United States
    Capital punishment has been dated back to the inception of the United States. It has been viewed to aid in vengeance, incapacitation, and compensation against the most dangerous criminals. Though federal government still prescribes death penalty for espionage and conspiracy, capital punishment has mainly been a preserve of murder cases only. There have been questions that have arisen concerning the efficiency of capital punishment. From an economical point of view, the marginal benefits of the process should be greater than the marginal cost. Marginal cost from this perspective is used to mean the difference between the costs of murder trial that can attract life sentence and the costs related to capital trial process (Bienen, 1999a).
Benefits of Death Penalty
    It has been noted that due to the threat of capital punishment, the rate of homicide has decreased. Death penalty is thought of to act for a greater deterrent effect. Though this may not hold in all the circumstances, for example, offenders who act in passion normally do not reflect on the penalties attached to their actions. Many countries usually convict criminals to death sentences but do not carry out the actual execution. This gives the offender time to prepare for their deaths, write wills and organize their families future before they die. They are also able to come up with propaganda and other strategies that may in the final end earn them freedom. The most disturbing aspect of this process is that they do not always give their victims the chance to do all these preparations. They normally strike in surprise leading to the suffering of the families of their victims. They do not always give their victims the opportunity to summon their lawyers or have the last word with their families. In most cases, the methods they normally apply to carry out their acts are ruthless and meant to inflict great pain. Why should they in turn be given some privileges that they themselves do not extend to their victims (Cottrell, 2004)
    Countries such as Singapore, which are famous for the actual execution of death row convicts, capital offenses are always on the decline. This is a clear indication that capital punishment is a deterrent. Capital punishment tends to discourage planned capital offenses when execution is almost certain. Though this kind of punishment is not premeditated as it occurs as a surprise even to the offenders and thus there is usually no time to think about the consequences of their actions. Under such circumstances there are degrees of murder and thus each case can be evaluated independently and appropriate punishment accorded (Bienen, 1999a).
    Crime rates have been on the increase in the United States due to a number of factors but chief among them is leniency. The situation worsens when we are talking about capital crimes as they normally end up in loss of life. Capital punishment serves a very crucial role of removing capital offenders from the society and thus serves as a step towards a sustained safety in the society. When an offender is dead, one is not in a position to carry out the agenda or better still other potential offenders are not able to learn from one and build up on ones strategies. Capital offense as is the case of many other offenses is a matter of free will and normally the offender is not usually compelled to do their heinous acts (Bienen, 1999b).
    Every human being fears death, even the most dreaded and brave criminals or soldiers do. If it was possible for a murderer to be executed instantly, then definitely homicide cases would hit their all time low. This may not be achieved due to the necessary legal procedures that ensure that an innocent person may not go through death sentence because death penalty is irreversible. All the same, we agree that death penalty would save a number of people who would have otherwise been victims of such acts (Geraghty, 2003).
    Execution is a real punishment and cannot be prepared with some measures aimed at rehabilitating the criminals. In most cases, capital offenders prove to have passed the point of rehabilitation and instead get hardened in prison. They are also able to build networks in prisons with like-minded individuals which can lead to more vicious acts that are well planned in future. In some cases, some of the offenders are convicted more than once for the same capital offense and thus they know that even if they are apprehended they will still gain their freedom. Some convicts are very dangerous, even to other convicts in prison and the prison staff. They even proceed to kill inmates knowing that they have been detained for life and there is no other severe punishment they can be subjected to (Bienen, 1999a).
    Capital punishment by many aspects outweighs life sentence, as those serving life sentences can get amnesty or some cases of capital offenders escaping from prison. The worst thing with this is that the capital offenders do not normally change but normally come for vengeance against those who acted as witnesses against them. There is also the possibility of a relative to the victim not being able to contain themselves when they see the offenders free in the society and in the process may end up taking the law into their own hands. Victims of sexual offenses may not withstand seeing these offenders free and may end up committing suicide or trying to eliminate such offenders making them capital offenders themselves (Bienen, 1999b).
    The resources we have are very limited and cannot even adequately cater for the citizens. It would not be prudent enough for the government to spend huge sums of money in catering for the needs and upkeep of capital offenders serving life imprisonments. The worst aspect of this is that unlike petty offenders who are able to change and focus on more important and economic activities, very many capital offenders are unable to change. Most of these offenders usually grow more vicious by the day. It may be true that the cost of executing and actual costs incurred before the execution in terms of legal appeals usually deplete the victims family resources and normally expose them to mental torture as the trials normally last for in excess of twelve years (Kasten, 1996). 
The cost is much less compared to the families of their victims losses, the many productive citizens they eliminate, and the torture they expose such innocent people to. With regards to the slow process, this should not be viewed negatively as it is aimed at ensuring that only the guilty offenders are executed. This is normally due to the irreversibility of this form of punishment (Bienen, 1999a).
Conclusion
    If we have empathy for the victims concerned, then capital punishment remains the way to go. The only caution is to establish that it was done intentionally and that the person executed is the actual criminal. Innocent lives can be saved in the process. Life is sacred and should not be taken away, more so if it is done intentionally. The benefits of execution to the society are immense and immeasurable and tend to be directed towards the realization of a safer society. More so is the deterrent effect associated with capital punishment.
    It is noted that the cost incurred during the investigation, attorney preparation, trial, appellate proceedings, and the actual execution has been estimated to be higher than the cost of life imprisonment. The situation becomes more complicated when we take the cost incurred when productive members some of them being sole providers of their families are killed. The only adjustment that needs to be in place is reformation of the capital process because the costs normally increase in the course of trials and appeals (Kasten, 1996). The judicial system has maintained a good level of reliability in terms of ensuring that only the offenders are prosecuted. This is normally because of the rigorous and detailed judicial procedures with almost unlimited number of appeals being extended to the offenders. We cannot claim that the judicial system is completely reliable but it has risen to almost unquestionable status..

Even though many laws have been passed to safeguard the rights of employees, the concept of fairness in the process of selection, hiring, promotions and dismissal of staff is almost universally accepted. The cost of acquiring and maintaining efficient and effective employees has been steadily increasing over the years. With enough legal restrictions, application of technology and the unpredictability of the employment market, the process of hiring staffers becomes very critical demanding utmost dexterity from the human resource departments of most firms and corporations. In this paper, I evaluate the process of employee selection and performance appraisal applied in my department.
The first step in hiring begins with the definition of the job or availability of a vacancy. For any business or organization to succeed, it is of paramount importance that the employees to whom specific duties and responsibilities have been delegated are fully able to perform them to perfection. The human resource department makes an outline of what the position entails, the amount of time the successful candidate or candidates will have to put in, that is if the job will be on a full time or a part time basis, the duty station (where the successful candidates will be performing his or her duties) and to whom they will be responsible to (Arthur, 2001). Further decisions have to be made concerning the appropriate and feasible remuneration and compensation package, the educational level and background and the extent of work experience if necessary. For example, while hiring a production engineer, it becomes necessary to make sure that the candidates must have an academic background in the relevant engineering discipline and have on-the-job experience required for efficient oversight of the department. Age could also be a factor as some positions demand extensive interpersonal skills and well developed leadership traits to execute efficiently, for example in human resource management.
After the job description and the necessary qualifications have been decided and outlined, the department advertises through dailies and on the firms website calling for suitably qualified candidates to forward their Curriculum Vitae and job cover letters to the Human resource managers desk. If potential candidates had already sent in their profiles, it still is imperative to advertise the positions for openness and transparency, as long as to avoid the risk of leaving out more qualified candidates (Thoms, 2005).
After all interested potential candidates have submitted the required documents, that is a cover letter and a copy of their curriculum vitae, the candidate pool for the particular job is systematically narrowed down to just a handful of persons. This is done by first perusing the applications to eliminate unqualified applicants. Attention is also paid to well written resumes and cover letters that may be an indication that the applicant may possess the qualities desired for the job. After this preliminary elimination process is over, the department establishes communication with the remaining candidates and invites them to sit an aptitude test to gauge their suitability for the position. Further elimination happens leaving as eligible only those candidates that score above a pre-determined threshold in the aptitude test (Arthur, 2001). The candidates still remaining in contention for the position are then invited for a boardroom oral interview to further establish the ability of each and every one of them.
After the oral interviews, the employer then is at liberty to extend an offer to the candidate or candidates they favor as most able to fill the vacancy as per the description of the job. It is the practice to have also a list of alternative candidates to extend offers to in the event of the favorite candidate turning down the offer.

Concerning appraisal, there is a realization that the biggest single reason for underperformance of employees in the department is lack of appreciation. Under duress of demanding operational schedules, seniors may forget to compliment good performances and instead focus on what is erroneously done. The fact is that even when an employee is performing well in just one of many areas of responsibility, the desire to improve in the other areas he or she is involved in will be fuelled by complementation from their supervisor. This is the foundation of performance appraisal (Thoms, 2005). The essence of performance appraisal is to motivate staff, establish the rate of productivity and hence estimate the efficiency of the existent employee base.
The first step is selecting the performance data to base the appraisal on. Considered here is employee productivity, the personal traits he or she exhibits and finally the proficiency (the skill) the employee has shown while carrying out his or her duties and responsibilities. Productivity is measured in terms of quantifiable performance accomplishments (Rosenberg, 2000). Personal traits are attributes like motivation, teamwork, the ability to take initiative and personal appearance (the suitability of the dress code and levels of personal grooming). Proficiency analysis helps establish the areas of performance needing improvement and ingrain inside the employee the desire to overcome the shortcomings that hinder satisfactory input in the department.
After the determination of the areas to perform the appraisal, a decision is made on who will conduct the appraisal. This may be the employees themselves, their co-workers supervisors or professionals outsourced from outside the organization. The rating philosophy is then decided upon (Denisi, 2005). This involves the choosing between classifying employee data based on mutual comparison with their co-workers or whether the rating is to be against some pre-established standard.
After the selection of employees, performance appraisal is in my opinion the most effective human resource management tool. This is because after proper execution, appraisals can help in refining the present workforce and rewarding excellence (Arthur, 2006).
The transparency and rigorous selection applied in selecting candidates to fill vacant positions in the department severely diminishes any chance of picking an unqualified candidate to take on any responsibilities. There also is no room for patronage and corruption in the hiring process.
Performance appraisals and the evaluation of the resultant data provide ideas for refining operational procedures or deciding on whether to institute new ones. If, for example performance appraisal information indicates that a production supervisor had continuously been involved in interpersonal conflicts with his juniors in the department, it will indicate the need for exercising more caution by focusing on interpersonal capabilities while hiring for that office in the future (Rosenberg, 2000).
In addition, even though the motivation levels and the desire for professional betterment vary from employee to employee, it is important for employees to get a feedback on how they are performing their duties. The feedback provided by performance surveys actively engages the employee to better his or her performance. When presented in a positive perspective, employees become grateful for the hints on how they can be better in their capacities and this concentrates collective efforts towards thriving of the establishment