Decision to Punish
The decision on the punishment depends on how the detected unjustified violation of the rules exceeded the tolerable threshold. What does this mean?
People are usually punished for a violation of some rules. If no violation has been revealed, there is nothing to punish for. As the saying goes, "no blood, no foul." If the violation of the rules is significant, if it exceeds the tolerable threshold, it is worth punishing the violator. If the violation is insignificant, then there is no sense in punishing. And how could one reduce the punishment? By justifying the violation of some rules as an attempt to comply with other, more important rules. For example, the person violated the "local" rule in order to achieve a result important for the entire company. If an excuse is accepted, the violation is reduced and the punishment is less severe.
One can express this essence in the form of a formula:
Decision on punishment = revealed * (violation - justification) > threshold
Here we see four components that determine the decision on punishment: what is revealed, what is violated, what justification is presented and accepted, and what is the tolerable threshold of violation.
How can these components change in connection with the purchase?
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The degree of detection of a violation increases
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The violation itself also increases
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Opportunities for acquittal declines
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Tolerable violation threshold may also decrease
Why do these changes inevitably exceed the threshold?
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Violation will be fully detected
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Violation will exceed the permissible threshold
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No excuses will be taken into account
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Permissible violation threshold drops to zero
In this case, seller need to ask the following questions:
If you decide to buy our product on our terms:
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What violation do you commit? (name and rate the violation)
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What rationale can you use to justify such violation? (name and evaluate the size of the rationale)
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What part of the violation will be detected and how? (name and evaluate detection methods)
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How is an acceptable violation threshold determined? (name and evaluate the threshold value)
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Why will the violation grow?
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Why will the chances of making excuses decrease?
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Why will this violation become easier to detect?
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Why can the permissible violation threshold be reduced?
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Why do you think the violation will exceed the permissible threshold?
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Why do you think that the opportunity to justify will fall to almost zero?
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Why do you think that the entire violation will be detected in full?
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Why do you think that the acceptable threshold can be reduced to almost zero?
Punishment | Threats and Their Scenarios | Loss from Punishment