The Innovator’s Dilemma, Research Paper Example

Part A

Since I plan to enter the field of criminal justice upon graduation, I located a website that provides visitors with information concerning the skills needed for individuals who wish to enter the local law enforcement agency (Barker et al., 2008). While it is important for members of the police force to have the technical skills necessary to perform the job, communication is very important because of the high paced environment that personnel are expected to work in. It must be done quickly and efficiently in order to ensure that crimes are stopped in a timely manner, which could potentially save lives and protect people from getting hurt.

The website discusses many of the complaints that civilians have against police officers, including that they come off as rude or arrogant. It is important for these individuals, therefore, to communicate their messages more clearly in order to allow the members of the public to understand why they are being spoken to. This includes more concise information regarding the rules they are breaking or why it is important to the safety of others for them to relocate themselves. Often, people think poorly of the police because they do not understand why they are required to listen to certain actions that they command. It is therefore important for police to speak in an authoritative manner, but with respect as well.

Ultimately, the article argues that police should communicate with civilians in a manner that builds towards positive relationships. Since the way that an individual communicates with others can reflect a lot about their profession, it is important for the police to transmit concise messages that are done in a manner that effectively guides civilians in some situations, or that allows for the deterrence of crimes in others. It is important for police officers to be aware of how their communication styles should alter based on the situations that they are in.

Part B

There are many types of projects that require collaboration, scientific research, theatrical performances, construction, and school group presentations (Benjamin et al., 1999). In each of these instances, it is important for all of the team members to work together in order to ensure that desirable results are produced. However, different situations may place a different emphasis on the individual member of the team. In some cases, it may be necessary for individuals to work more by themselves on a portion of the project and then report back to the group for a final compilation. In other cases, the group members must work together on every aspect of the project in order to ensure that reasonable results are produced. For example, laboratory scientists are mainly independent until their data needs to be compiled and discussed. Meanwhile, construction workers should be working together at all time to ensure that each part of the project can be adequately accomplished.

The four primary attributes of an effective writing team include the chemistry of group members, communication skills, individual knowledge of the writing topic, and prior practice of the particular writing skill. An example of chemistry is that ideal groups all get along and are able to coordinate responsibilities in a manner that will allow for the completion of effective work. Communication skills include being able to talk to one another to resolve differences and come to agreements about what should be written. The knowledge of the topic may involve prior internet research or library research on the topic. The prior practice of writing skills refers to the individual’s ability at the point of the group work to work well due to past experience.

Part C

There are many studies with questionable sponsorships and motives that appear in magazines. For example, in Sports Illustrated, I often come across many articles that discuss the value of a particular athletic product. In the most recent case, I read a two page article about how it is beneficial to use heart rate tracking stop watches while running because doing so help keeps track of an individual’s overall health during the workout. While this is certainly true, the image of the runner associated with the article was wearing a particular brand of watch. Therefore, this company likely sponsored the piece, knowing it would be able to reach many of its target readers during the process (Dacko, 2008).

Furthermore, many articles have had a reliance on insufficient evidence or hasty generalizations (Christensen, 1997). I read a research publication that stated that people that write with their left hands are more likely to die young. However, the article didn’t consider the reasons that left-handed individuals may die, such as in accidents related to equipment made for right-handed individuals. Instead, it assumed that this was genetic. This was a faulty understanding of information.

Many advertisements I have seen also use biased information. For example, many television advertisements for shampoo brag that theirs is the best and does certain extraordinary things to an individuals’ hair, like repairing broken ends. However, since every shampoo claims they’re the “best”, we can assume that none of these actually are the best and that this is not the case for any one of them.

Unexamined assumptions occur when we fail to examine some of the factors that can be involved in a potential relationship. For example, a study claimed that coffee drinkers are more likely to get cancer, when in reality coffee drinkers were more likely to smoke, and it was the cigarettes that caused cancer. Therefore, these researchers failed to examine the confounding factors that would impact the relationship between the two variables being studied. This is also an example of faulty causal reasoning because the relationship between the two variables was not absolutely certain before it was reported and published. To ensure that studies of this type can be trusted, it is important for the authors to consider all relevant relationships throughout the study, which may involve carefully planning before this type of study is initiated in the first place.

Part D

There are no studies that adequately discuss the ideal length of the school day. Therefore, it would only be possible to name my own opinions in addition to those of my teacher. Based on my own knowledge of the length of the current school day, I believe that it is too long for primary school children.

There are two potential solutions to this problem. One of these include focusing on the needs of the children. The second problem involves focusing on the logistics utilized by the educational system. It would be reasonable to prioritize the first solution because it will help prioritize the educational needs of these children.

References

Barker, V. Giles, H., Hajek, C., Ota, H., Noels, K., Lim, T-S., &Somera, L. (2008). Police-civilian interaction, compliance, accommodation, and trust in an intergroup context: International data. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 1, 93-112.

Benjamin J, Bessant J, Watts R. (1999). Making Groups Work: Rethinking Practice, Allen & Unwin.

Christensen, Clayton M. (1997), The innovator’s dilemma: when new technologies cause great firms to fail. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press.

Dacko, Scott G. (2008). The advanced dictionary of marketing. Oxford University Press.