Obama's executive order on hostage ransom negotiations and terrorist connections

¶ … Environment

Executive Order: Scenario that Explains the Protections It Provides

Negotiating with Kidnappers

Sarah is a thirty-year-old woman traveling a long distance in the company of her spouse and her one-year-old kid. They are travelling in a mid-size sedan. At around 1:00 PM, they make a stop at a supermarket in what seems to be a decent part of the town that they were passing through. Sarah takes her baby out of the car seat, rests her on the back seat and goes ahead to change her diaper while standing outside the vehicle and bending down into the vehicle. Her husband, on the other hand, goes inside the supermarket to get the required supplies. Sarah suddenly feels a great shove form her back and flies forward, landing on top of her baby. The door then slams behind her and in just a few seconds, while recuperating from the shock, she notices that someone else (not her husband) has gotten into the driver's seat. That person then drives off with Sarah and her baby. Sarah does not know who the person is. He has not said a word to her, but she automatically presumes being in danger. Her heart and mind are racing fast. She is mostly scared for her baby, but also for herself. She and her baby have been kidnapped and her husband does not know it (Miranda, 2010).

It was found out that the kidnappers had connections to terrorists and after a while, the kidnapper calls and asks for ransom from Sarah's spouse. The new executive order approved by President Barack Obama shall stop the criminal and Sarah's husband from negotiating for the ransom. Whereas the United States government does not officially negotiate with terrorists for the release of American captives, in accordance to the new order, families that pay money to release hostages shall not be punished or prosecuted, nor shall they be threatened with criminal charges.

Who is Covered by the Order and What Action is Prohibited

The executive order covers families and loved ones of American captives that seek to negotiate or pay ransom to the abductors. Also, the White House shall establish an office to work with families of the captives (Dawn, 2015).

Categories of Performance Appraisal Plans

Performance appraisal refers to the procedure of reviewing and assessing the performance of groups or individuals on their work roles. It could be seen as the procedure of evaluating and recording personnel performance for the aim of making judgments regarding personnel that lead to decisions. It should also be seen as a system of highly interactive procedures that engage personnel at all levels in different degrees, in establishing job expectations, putting down job descriptions, creating evaluation tools and processes, and gathering, interpreting, and reporting of results (Virginia Tech, 2008).

Trait Appraisal

A trait refers to a characteristic that is possessed by someone. Traits entail things like appearance, attitude, work ethic, leadership, and judgment, among others. One major problem of utilizing traits as a standard in judging performance is that they are quite subjective in nature. However, if the trait has some legitimate association to the job, it might have some value in judgment. For instance, Malcolm's company expects its pharmaceutical sales representative to be professionally clothed and perfectly groomed. In this particular scenario, appearance is significant and could have some degree of objectivity if a dress code is developed.

Behavior-Based Approaches

Behavior-based approaches have a tendency of using particular performance factors in the assessment of personnel. Performance measures could either be qualitative or quantitative. The conventional rating scale is one of the approaches. These scales utilize phrases to explain the degree to which particular characteristics are shown. Groups for behaviorally anchored scales could be developed from job descriptions. In case there are no suitable characteristics within the job descriptions, supervisors need to work with personnel to establish the characteristics or behaviors that would be helpful in an evaluation setting.

360-Degree Feedback

This technique permits the appraiser to acquire a complete profile of the employee. Apart from weighing the employee's technical skill set and job performance, the appraiser obtains detailed feedback on the behavior of the worker. Measuring subjectivity regions, like leadership skills and character, permits an employer to control the development of an employee.

Analysis of Trader Joe's Impact on Employee Motivation, Morale, and Organizational Culture.

The chain views its own people as a means of building brand recognition for the store. The attitude in the corporate office is that the individuals it employs, trains, and promotes are just as significant as the low costs and products it carries. As such, Trader Joe's is recognized for treating personnel with a measure of dignity and respect, which is practically unequaled in the supermarket industry. Everybody at Trader Joe's actually seems to enjoy what they do. It is not simply about the product, but also a lifestyle and attitude that stretch to individuals in the supermarket. This makes them quite different from workers in traditional supermarkets. The fact that I shop there implies that I am educated and will not get absorbed by big brands and pay a lot of money for packaging. I describe myself in quite flattering ways when I say I am Trader Joe's client. This is the same for those individuals who work there; it is complimentary. The labor upheaval in the rest of the industry has worked for the good of Trader Joe's (Lewis, 2005).

Crew members are chosen, partly, because of their conveyed energy and interest. They handle several responsibilities such as cashier, customer interface, and stocker, and are assessed on a quarterly basis. It is shown that for the most past, the in-use and espoused cultures were aligned. Particularly, as envisaged, the ability to impact, the dedication to collaboration, and an increased level of success orientation was reported. Crew members pointed out that they felt empowered to make decisions, were collaborative, and that they were motivated to high performance levels. These particular traits were showed in the level to which they were hardworking, passionate, outgoing, and client and team oriented.

However, a surprising finding was the degree to which they were uncomfortable with their uncertainty. Given the affirmed mission of the organization, accompanied with the somewhat flat design of the organization, it was perceived that crew members would be heartened to take risks and be tolerant of ambiguity. On the contrary, the somewhat thin profit margins linked with the retail grocery enterprise, accompanied by a structured set of client guidelines/rules, calls for a devotion to the Trader Joe's manner of conducting business, and emphasis is placed on abiding by rules and regulations (Mallinger & Rossy, 2007).