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Business Memo Mental Accounting
TO: The Director of Human Resources at McKinsey
FROM: Enter Name, Accounting Special Consultant
DATE: April 21, 2021
SUBJECT: Structuring the Compensation Package
With reference to the principles of mental accounting, and the need for McKinsey to structure their compensation package to maximize the number of offers accepted, it is important to first understand the concept of transaction versus acquisition utility. According to Thaler (188), acquiring a product requires one to code it as a gain compared to the forgone money as a loss. As such, McKinsey should codify a compensation package in terms of acquisition utility and transaction utility where the former measures the value of what is to be obtained relative to the cost, while the latter measures the perceived value of the entire process (Thaler 188). The result of this mental accounting reasoning is that McKinsey will look for the best compensation package based on its need to maximize the number of offers accepted and will also manage to find transaction and acquisition utility from the process. Because of the utility that the company is looking to attain, setting the compensation ceiling and floor will be important towards its overall aim. McKinsey will have to use an amount they are willing to pay as compensation, an amount already in the budget, code it as important and proceed to provide what they were already willing to spend in order to maximize the number of offers accepted in recruitment.
To retain employees, mental accounting introduces the concept of the diversification heuristic. Thaler (202) describes the diversification heuristic as an observation where people prefer to diversify more given several choices at once, compared to when making the same decision sequentially. In line with this thinking, McKinsey should structure its compensation in a way that gives the employees several choices at once regarding their compensation preference without adding to the total compensation. McKinsey employees should be given different choices as part of their compensation package such as base pay, insurance benefits, and company stock options grouped together as one package or another one made up of different percentages of the same package to ensure that employees choose one of the two compensation packages as opposed to a single base pay that is higher in amount. The intention here is to create a sense of diversification, thus increasing overall satisfaction amongst the employees. Employees would proceed to pick one of the package options because they mentally account for the other additions to the base pay as separate incomes. By using this compensation structure, McKinsey will attain its agenda to retain employees through the diversification heuristic.
Media plays a crucial role in the American democracy
American Democracy
It is argued that the media plays a crucial role in the American democracy. The press has been always present and has acquired a magnitude of privilege that no other industry enjoys in the American Constitution. It is widely observed that many journalists of United States view themselves as protectors of the system of government and this is also echoed by the framers of the Constitution. This role if pursued by media with passion is bound to bring discomfort from those in power hence resulting to tension between the politicians and the press. The public is therefore caught in the middle and thus sometimes forced to agree with the press on certain issues and to side with the politicians other times. The press exhibits the political power and this has become a subject to look into by many people. The American press has been blamed and praised on many aspects of political life. The political system only survives because of the media and vise and versa, (Emery, M and Edwin E, 2000).
The contemporary media has become more pervasive than it was a few decades ago. The growth in the usage of mass media and its availability are the facts to note in the America life. The primary examples of mass media are Television, which spread across the nation in the early 1950s and the Internet which is spreading like bush fire throughout the country. Print media has a wider following more especially by the Americans who can influence the political process. The political talk radio carved itself a niche and this led to mushrooming of many radio stations over the past two decades, thus Americans spent more time listening to them as they go about their activities.
The development of press-politician relations in America has been regarded as twofold. In the first part the politicians got more dependent on the press as the political parties weakened in 1960s and second politicians went ahead to use press for their own benefit but the journalist responded aggressively by defending their role as society’s watchdog for democracy.
The candidates were forced to cultivate good relationships with the voters as a result of the weakening of the political parties system and this was done through the mass media. The transition from party centered system to a candidate centered system meant that both politicians and the public had to depend on the news media for vital information.
President Ronald Reagan is highly viewed with awe because of his relationship with the news media. Reagan turned the media more especially the television into a national megaphone to propel his policies. Reagan pioneered news management techniques though the press and the public take it for granted, (Emery, M and Edwin E, 2000).
Reference
Emery, M and Edwin E, (2000). The Press and America: Evolution of the Mass Media. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Mitigating Factors (Extra Credit Assignment) and Criminal Law
Name:
Mitigating Factors (Extra Credit Assignment) and Criminal Law
Institution
Date
Mitigating Factors and Criminal Law: A Case on Self Defense
Mr. and Mrs. Dowell have been married for twenty years and were blessed with two children Meshach and Melanie Dowell, sixteen and fourteen years old respectively. Mr. Dowell, frequently physically and verbally abused his wife, daughter and son. He was a drunkard and had lost his job several times. Rita Dowell the wife to Mr. Dowell had been a breadwinner for their family for more than six years enduring all the physical and verbal abuse while trying to protect her daughter. Mrs. Dowell had tried to leave several times but Mr. Dowell had always told her she would look for her and kill her together with her daughter and the son. Due to the years of the physical abuse, Rita seemed to believe that her abuser would actually kill her. Rita had always try to be a submissive loving wife who wanted her child to grow in a loving home although this was proving to be just but a dream. She had tried helping her husband including taking him to rehab centers for help but he was always relapsing and his violent tendencies kept growing daily.
On the night of February 29, 2004, Mr. Dowell came home heavily drunk as usual. Rita was not yet home but her daughter was in the house and just ushered his father in as he had been banging the door. When his father got him, he started raining kicks and blows to the poor girl who could not defend herself and her mother too was not in the house to help her. Luckily the brother who was not asleep came out to rescue the sister. He was only 14-years old and his father overpowered him by shoving him away as he continued beating up her daughter and trying to undress her. Meshach took his bat and hit his father on the head who immediately passed out on the floor and was bleeding from the head. On seeing this Meshach and Melanie contacted their mother who came home immediately and called ambulance services to try and rush Mr. Dowell to the hospital. However, when the Emergency Medical responders arrived, they pronounced Mr. Dowell dead. A postmortem report indicated that Mr. Dowell succumbed from his head injuries that was inflicted by a blunt object, the bat. Meshach our client was arrested by the Chicago Police Department and charged with murder.
On the night in question, Melanie had been recording her YouTube video as she was trying to kick start her career as vlogger. She was doing her recording in the living room and when she heard a knock, she left the camera still rolling knowing she would edit out the unwanted parts and furthermore, after opening the door her plan was to continue her recording. The video did capture moments where the father was beating up her daughter and although the camera toppled due to the movement, the voice recording was captured and one can hear as the brother tried to stop his father from battering her sister to when Meshach actually hits him in the head with the bat.
Meshach was acting on self-defense as he was defending her younger sister who was being physically abused by the dad. According to law self-defense is when an individual tries to defend themselves from the attack or tries to prevent an attack of another person, in our case, the latter applies. S3(1) of criminal law also provides that “A person may use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances in the prevention of crime, or in effecting or assisting in the lawful arrest offenders or suspected offenders or of persons unlawfully at large” If Meshach had not intervened and saved her sister, probably her sister would be dead or rather nursing other serious injuries inflicted on her by her biological father.
Meshach has always been a disciplined boy with neighbors and teachers attesting to it. He had always performed in school and was among the best students in his class. At no point had he shown violent tendencies towards the school mates or neighbors and many know as a kind hearted boy always ready to help anyone. There are no prior records that show Meshach had ever had an encounter with the law enforcers, not even a parking ticket. On the several occasion his father had abused him physically, he never fought back but always run to avoid any more harm from the father. Meshach is not a flight risk as he has been the support system of both her sister and mother now him being the only man in the house he understands he needs to be there for them more than ever. Mischa has shown remorse for g=his action severally stating he had no intention of killing his father but rather he was trying to protect his sister and the use of the bat was because it was the only object he laid his hands on at that moment. Meshach is a young promising man who has demonstrated integrity throughout his life until that fateful night when he made that one mistake.
Questions.
Was Meshach acting on self-defense?
Possible proof: Mrs. Dowell and Melanie medical sheets on proof of physical abuse, video that captured the physical assault of Melanie on the February 29th, 2004
Did Meshach use reasonable force?Proof: use of a bat and video and voice recording
Does Meshach have a violent behavior?
Proof: Character witness from a neighbor and the teacher and a look psychiatric report by a psychologist indicating Meshach does not act rationally in heated circumstances
Had Meshach ever been abused by his father just like the mother and sister?
Proof: medical record to when he was admitted to the ER with a broken limb, witness from neighbors on broken relationship between son and father
Was Meshach actions fueled by his difficult personal history
Proof: Witness testimony of neighbors on Meshach having to take care of his sister including cooking while still young and testimony from psychologist on emotional distress Meshach was through due to his upbringing.
Does Meshach have a criminal record?
Proof: look into Meshach past criminal record and character witness
Is Meshach a flight risk?
Proof: look into his passport, examination of how often he travels out of the city
Does Meshach understand the gravity of his action?
Proof: Calling emergency responders to help his father and proof of his remorse.
Was Meshach under the influence of any drug when defending himself and the sister?
Proof: blood alcohol content analysis as well as analysis on presence of any other hard substance and character witness attributing Meshach’s character to good behavior
What were the circumstances at the time Meshach was committing the crime?
Proof of emotional distress and physical abuse from the father, proof of provocation from the father.