Final answer:
Enforcing rules effectively can involve the use of both positive and negative sanctions to maintain social control, such as a professor disciplining a student or offering praise. Bureaucracies use explicit written rules to adapt to new issues, while smaller groups can rely on personal influence and monitoring without formal mechanisms.
Step-by-step explanation:
An effective method to enforce rules and regulations is to apply both positive sanctions and negative sanctions. To maintain social control in a scenario where a student habitually talks on their cell phone during class, a professor may choose to halt the lecture and request the student to turn off the phone—using negative sanctioning to correct behavior. In contrast, offering praise or extra credit to students who consistently engage in class discussions without causing disruptions exemplifies the use of positive sanctions. Both methods play significant roles in enforcing norms and maintaining social order, with the effectiveness largely depending on the context and the individuals involved.
For instance, the foot-in-the-door technique can also be a powerful method of gaining compliance through starting with a small request to increase the likelihood of agreement with a larger one later on. Bureaucracies often rely on explicit rules, like those found in a Student Handbook, to handle issues like cyberbullying or identity theft. This structured approach benefits from clear, written standards that adapt over time to cover emerging concerns.
In groups or workplaces, the strength of person-to-person connections and the ability to monitor behavior, along with offering suitable rewards or punishments, can sometimes suffice to prevent issues without the need for formal mechanisms. Therefore, effectively wielding the power of sanctions and personal influence can make enforcing rules more efficient and maintain the desired standards of behavior.