Analysis Of The Board Members Of Apple Computers Essay

It is important to understand the background of the board members of Apple Computers to understand the impact they have on the company. Tim Cook, William V. Campbell Millard Drexler, Albert Gore Jr and Andrea Jung are all crucial board members that impact Apple Computers daily operations. Tim Cook is the most important executive and the CEO of Apple. Before being named CEO in August 2011 he was in charge of a large portion of the companies planning and daily operations, His direction and supervision anticipated an essential spike in deals for Apple s Macintosh division and delivered a significant arrange in the revamping of key supplier affiliations, guaranteeing adaptability in light of a clearly interest for business center. Furthermore before joining Apple, Tim was VP of Corporate Materials for Compaq and was responsible for obtaining and taking care of the lion s offer of Compaq s thing stock. Prior to his work at Compaq, Tim was the boss working officer of the Reseller Division at Intelligent Electronics. He put in 12 years with IBM, most beginning late as official of North American Fulfillment where he headed storing up and course constrains for IBM s Personal Computer Company in North and Latin America. Tim earned an M.b.a from Duke University, where he was a Fuqua Scholar, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Auburn University. He developed his business savvy and ski from his previous experience with Compaq and IBM. His duties as CEOShow MoreRelatedApple Inc. An American Corporation1259 Words   |  6 PagesApple INC is an American corporation headquartered in the state of California. Founded on April 1st, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. The Company designs, manufactures, and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players, and sells a variety of related software, services, accessories, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. All these products are sold worldwide through Apple’s retail storesRead MoreEssay on Donna Dubinsky at Apple1171 Words   |  5 PagesDonna Dubinsky and Apple Computer Inc. Recommendations and Findings - The Ultimatum†¨ â€Å"†¦Star performers who have been rewarded for their individual contributions and have come to expect wide latitude in how they work, becoming a manager can be a mixed blessing.† These words aptly describe the career of Donna Dubinsky at Apple Computer. As you will find in this paper, Donna’s case highlights key issues in organizational strategic direction and hierarchical structure; it illustrates power andRead MoreApple Inc Strategic Analysis3227 Words   |  13 PagesCase 10: Apple Computer and Steve P. Jobs CURRENT SITUATION * Performance The current performance at Apple Inc. shows a slightly higher gross margin percentage of 33.9 compared to 32.9 for the previous year. This is based on figures from the quarterly report ending March 29, 2008 and the date for the comparison figure is the previous year ending March 31, 2007. The revenue for that same quarter was $7.51 billion with a net quarterly profit of $1.05 billion. The Macintosh computers unit showedRead MoreApple Inc Strategic Analysis3213 Words   |  13 PagesCase 10: Apple Computer and Steve P. Jobs CURRENT SITUATION * Performance The current performance at Apple Inc. shows a slightly higher gross margin percentage of 33.9 compared to 32.9 for the previous year. This is based on figures from the quarterly report ending March 29, 2008 and the date for the comparison figure is the previous year ending March 31, 2007. The revenue for that same quarter was $7.51 billion with a net quarterly profit of $1.05 billion. The Macintosh computers unit showedRead MoreEssay on Conducting Business in the US and Globally1239 Words   |  5 Pagesconducting business in the United States and globally that I am familiar with is Apple Inc. I will include an analysis of global economic interdependence and effects of international technology industry practices and agreements. The importance of demographics, physical infrastructure, social responsibility and ethics versus legal obligations of the organizations will be aspects I examine. I will include an analysis of cultural differences, effects of political systems and influences of internationalRead MoreMicrosoft vs. Apple1635 Words   |  7 Pages Rivalry between Apple and Microsoft has existed for a long time. While Microsoft dominates the market by providing an operating system to nine tenths of the number of users (Net Applications, 2011), Apple s products bring an alternative to the consumers experience. Moreover, given Apple s steady growth in the last years (Yahoo Finance, 2011) the competition is still ongoing and fierce, as some PC users (sustained mostly by Microsoft) are switching to a Mac (offered by Apple). According toRead MoreDonna Dubinsky and Apple Computer Case Study Essay1656 Words   |  7 PagesDonna Dubinsky and Apple Computer, Inc. Report of Findings and Recommendations Prepared By: Robin Armstrong Table of Contents Background and Scope 3 Current Scenario 4 Situation Analysis 6 Conclusions and Recommendations 8 Background and Scope This report has been prepared for Professor XXX. This report summarizes the complete review of Donna Dubinsky’s career at Apple Computer as the Director of Distribution and Sales Administration and the proposed distributionRead MoreAutocratic Leadership2056 Words   |  6 PagesSteve Jobs. We will focus on his autocratic leadership style, and how this can be further explained through his work at Apple Inc. For this analysis we will use the White and Lippitt leadership model, which further supports the concept of autocratic leadership. We will also implement an alternative solution through the Fiedler s contingency model. After, we will conclude our analysis on leadership with a recap of Steve Jobs and his legacy as a leader. White and Lippitt Leadership Theory Lewin, LippittRead Moreâ€Å"The Apple Of Your I† Case Analysis. 4.7. Which Of Porter’S1176 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The Apple of Your i† Case Analysis 4.7. Which of Porter’s four competitive strategies does apple engage in? Explain. Out of the four competitive strategies according to Porter, Apple engages in a focused differentiation strategy. Apple has been very successful by creating different products and services from competitors that are innovative, high quality, and user-friendly. From their unique product designs, to their state-of-art development of operating systems and software, Apple’s has continuouslyRead MoreApple Strategic Audit Essays2408 Words   |  10 Pagescompany’s strategic posture is clearly stated, and is also back up by its strong performance. 2. Mission †¢ Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing and music experience to its customers. The company has a unique ability to design and development its own hardware and software. 3. Objectives †¢ Today, Apple is committed to lead the industry with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. The company’s objectives are clearly in

Essay on The Discoveries of Galileo Galilei - 910 Words

The telescope was invented based off of a â€Å"spyglass† that was created by a Flemish lens grinder. Galileo was a man of many trades; philosophy, astronomy, and mathematics were among his favorites. Before he started studying the skies, Galileo taught math at Pisa and then Padua. After creating his telescope he became known as a hero to many people across Italy and most of Europe. Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy in February of 1564. As a teenager his moved to a monastery school, and then continued on at the University of Pisa where he studied medicine. He always had such a love for math and philosophy that he taught the two subjects at Pisa and then Padua. Galileo also studied motion, which he used for the majority of the rest†¦show more content†¦Galileo revealed himself as a huge advocate of Copernicus’s heliocentric system in The Starry Messenger. The Roman Inquisition of the Catholic Church disapproved of Copernicanism and made Galileo discard the Copernican thesis. Later he was told that he was allowed to continue to discuss Copernicanism as long as he knew that he was not a statistic, but it was a mathematical theory. It has been discussed that the church didn’t like the Copernican system because it endangered the whole beginning of the universe. â€Å"The heavens were no longer a spiritual world but a world of matte r. Humans were no longer at the center, and God was no longer in a specific place.† The system created such doubts that it seemed right for them just to criticize it. Through his crafty telescope, he could see more clearly the moon and what it is all about. He found out that the moon had a landscape features similar to the earth, with mountains and valleys. This discovery of his went against the Aristotelian way that all things past earth are all make of a â€Å"perfect celestial substance† but he realized that it looked like it was made of the same stuff that earth was. Jupiter is orbited by four moons, or as Galileo called them planets, that were previously unknown. This observation shows that the earth was not the center of motion. This was given credibility by the Copernican assertion thatShow MoreRelatedThe Controversy over the Discoveries of Galileo Galilei Essay examples795 Words   |  4 PagesGalileo Galilei, born February 15th 1564 in the town of Pisa, a man who played a significant role in the Scientific Revolution, he was a man of many talents as he was not only an artist, astronomer and engineer he was also a philosopher, mathematician and physicist to name a few. One of his most outstanding improvements were those made to the telescope, although Galileo’s observations, made using the telescope, would be one that would arouse much attention and create a great controversy. GalileoRead MoreGalileo s Battle For The Heavens870 Words   |  4 Pageshighlighted Galileo Galilei’s struggle to convince the church of his discoveries. The movies shows him as an amazing scientist that had to make sacrifices in order to be able to continue his work. His discoveries question the accepted model by the church that Earth is the center of the universe and the other planets revolve around it. He proposes a model which confirms Copernicus’s ideas that the center of the universe is the Sun and the planets revolve around the Sun. Galileo Galilei was an amazingRead MoreGalileo Galileis Contributions to Scientific Advancements634 Words   |  3 Pages Galileo was probably the most appreciable astronomer, mathematician and scientist of his time. In fact his work has been very essential in many scientific advances, even to this day. With things like improving the telescope and the discovery of the heliocentric orbit of Earth. Galileo had many other substantial discoveries that also had a great effect on astronomy. In the early seventeenth century,Galileo Galilei, an Italian physicist, mathemitician, astronomer, and philosopher, is known forRead MorePhysics 11373 Words   |  6 PagesGalileo Galilei Introduction It is no question that Galileo was an influential scientist in his time and still is today (picture located on page 6 from google.com). Though his most notable discoveries were in the field of astronomy, we cannot label him simply as an astronomer. He authored many important works including, Sidereal Messenger (also known as Starry Messenger), but unfortunately, due to the power of the Catholic church in his native Italy, his work in astronomy was widely rejected byRead MoreEssay On Galileo Galilei1495 Words   |  6 PagesGalileo Galilei was born on February 15, 1556 in Pisa Italy, Tuscany in 1564, the son of Florentine musician Vincenzio Galilei. Actually, Vincenzio was a revolutionary musician—he felt the formal church music that then dominated the scene had become sterile, and that classic Greek poetry and myths had a power the church music lacked, that perhaps could be translated into modern music. He attempted some of this, and his work began the development that culm inated in Italian opera. His mother GiuliaRead MoreGalileo And The Scientific Revolution1549 Words   |  7 Pages Quick Facts Name Galileo Occupation Astronomer, Scientist Birth Date February 15, 1564 Death Date January 8, 1642 Did You Know? Galileo supported the Copernican theory, which supports a sun-centered solar system. Did You Know? Galileo was accused twice of heresy by the church for his beliefs. He remained under house arrest the remaining years of his life. Did You Know? Galileo devised his own telescope, in which he observed the moon and found Venus had phases like the moon, proving it rotatedRead MoreThe Importance Of Looking At The Sky1336 Words   |  6 Pageshuge role in astronomy and science was Galileo Galilei. Galileo had paved the way for many modern day scientists and innovations. This man had devoted his entire life to his findings and to better educate the public. In the poem â€Å"The Old Astronomer to His Pupil,† it was said by Sarah Williams, â€Å"I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night,† and this perfectly explains the relationship Galileo had with astronomy. With all the struggles that Galileo went through he could have stopped believingRead More Galileo: Scientist, Scholar, Rebel Essay1708 Words   |  7 Pagesset up the Inquisition. Galileo was targeted by the Inquisition for his observations and experiments. 2 Because his teachings differed from the socially accepted ideas of Aristotle, the In quisition believed he should be persecuted. Even though Galileo’s observations were much more factual than Aristotle’s and, more important, backed up by experiments and the use of the telescope, he was still sentenced to house arrest for life. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Galileo Galilei was born on February 15Read MoreEssay about The Life and Work of Galileo1360 Words   |  6 PagesLife and Work of Galileo Galileo Galilei is considered to be one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. He made life changing discoveries and mystified many with his knowledge. However, not all of his work was accepted well. Galileo challenged the church creating a controversy that will never be forgotten. Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy February 18, 1564. He was the son of Vincenzo Galilei, a member of a Nobel family, a musician and a mathematician. Galileo, at an early age,Read MoreThe Idea That The Earth Was The Center Of The Universe1049 Words   |  5 Pagesadvanced for his time. He had no backing for his discovery and, if published earlier, may not have made the impact it had. It was not accepted, but it put the idea into people’s heads, specifically Galileo Galilei. Galileo Galilei was an Italian mathematician, astronomer, physicist, and artist. He was born almost 20 years after Copernicus published his findings. Through the use of the Scientific Method, and a tip from another person, Galileo was able to find proof of the heliocentric theory.

Business System Integration and Consultancy Free Essays

string(129) " challenge with manual cleaning is the clip it consumes and the human resource required from an already overladen Aluxtel staff\." â€Å"Abstract Customer relationship direction ( CRM ) is a combination of people, procedures and engineering that seeks to understand a company ‘s customers.† The faculty â€Å"Business System Integration and Consultancy† was one I had been looking frontward to of all time since I decided to fall in the class. The chance of holding existent clip experience of being a adviser and transporting out a undertaking was truly appealing. We will write a custom essay sample on Business System Integration and Consultancy or any similar topic only for you Order Now Over the class of the faculty, the assorted facets of consultancy and undertaking execution were introduced under the umbrella of a consultancy undertaking. My essay covers the assorted phases that I went through as a portion of my group, the alterations I would do if I were to travel through the procedure once more and the accomplishments I gained by undergoing the faculty. The essay is loosely divided into two subdivisions. The first subdivision covers the procedure of system integrating I would follow. This covers the phases like Request for Information and Request for Proposal which covers the execution scheme. The 2nd subdivision high spots the personal acquisition. THE PROCESS OF SYSTEM INTEGRATION The faculty took us through assorted phases of system integrating get downing from the client seting up petition for information. If the procedure was to be repeated, there is a series of alterations and betterments that could be incorporated into the same. These have been detailed below. The Request for Information ( RFI ) S Daellenbach and Sally J Davenport suggest that organisations enter into confederation based on properties of organisation and its representatives instead than the property of the future confederation relationship ( Establishing Trust during the Formation of Technology Alliances ‘ , Journal of Technology Transfer, 29 ( 2 ) , 2004:187 ) . The RFI phase is the platform to demo the clients the credibleness and eligibility of the company in taking up the undertaking ( mention of where you got the info from ) . It is of import to affect the client ; demo them that you have the capableness and besides set up trust. For this it is indispensable to demo partnership by seting the logo of Aluxtel and ICG together. The presentation would cover the accomplishments, the strengths, the services offered and relevant experience of ICG in the country of client demand. It would besides showcase the of import old and current partnerships of the company ; for this I would utilize Son of the spous e companies. The presentation should non give so much information that the client misses the indispensable points. ICG ab initio had 19 slides which were cut down to 14 during the RFI phase. Another facet I would make otherwise, was sing an question by the client about employee turnover ratio. ICG had divulged that information to Aluxtel but I subsequently found out that such inside informations are seldom let out by a company and about ne’er during RFI phase. Meeting with the client is besides a really important facet. Survey by Katz and Kahn suggest that appraisal of trust is likely to be based ab initio on the interpersonal interactions ( 1978 ) . It is hence of import to subscribe the â€Å"psychological contracts† with the client. The Request for Proposal ( RFP ) This phase required us to showcase the program to turn to the client ‘s demand. The important facet to this was to pull out the right information from the client through the series of meetings we had. The process adopted consisted of three stairss – analysing the organisation A ; understanding demands, explicating execution scheme and measuring the undertaking execution. Procedure and Technology Measure 1: Analyzing organisation A ; Understanding Requirements The key to acquiring information from the clients as pointed by the faculty leaders is to inquire an unfastened ended inquiry which leaves the client to speak more than you. The effectual direction of information has a important function to play in CRM. Information is critical for merchandise tailoring, service invention, amalgamate positions of clients, and ciphering client life-time value ( Peppard, 2000 ) . The initial negotiations were non really fruitful, due to inexperience and nervousnesss. The attendant meetings yielded more information ; the last meeting had been more focussed in footings of the inquiries and yielded specific concerns of the client sing cost decrease and organisational restructuring. This helped ICG modify the program to run into the client ‘s specific involvements. The information was used to transport out analysis utilizing techniques like SWOT analysis, stakeholder analysis and plague analysis. I would follow this as it greatly helped in analysing t he consequence of the undertaking on assorted facets of the organisation. Measure 2: Execution Scheme The scheme should provide to three chief facets viz. people, procedure and engineering. The thought is that a new procedure is to be designed by integrating engineering to give the company the competitory advantage. The focal point nevertheless needs to be on the demands of the company and non engineering. Technology should ever be the facilitator. This fact is confirmed by Rigby and Ledingham who say that directors should non be distracted by the CRM package but should concentrate on what demands it should provide to ( 2004 ) . I steadfastly adhere to this school of idea and believe that doing engineering the chief drive force behind determinations can do concerns to lose focal point on their nucleus competences, unless the nucleus competence is engineering itself. The chief facet to be considered in the instance of Aluxtel is the presence of silo systems. Migrating the information into a individual database would greatly cut down call clip and better client satisfaction. However this should non impact the normal concern operations. Bearing these factors in head a information migration program has to be devised. The information migration would besides function as an chance to transport out informations cleansing. In 2001, Gartner analysts Scott Nelson and Jennifer Kirkby reported that disregarding informations quality is the figure one ground for CRM undertaking failures ( Power, 2009:40 ) . The information of Aluxtel could be largely cleansed by automatic methods but required manual cleaning every bit good. The challenge with manual cleaning is the clip it consumes and the human resource required from an already overladen Aluxtel staff. You read "Business System Integration and Consultancy" in category "Essay examples" From the interactions wi th the faculty leaders, it was concluded that cent per centum clean information is a rareness. Therefore I believe that automatic cleaning would do as an immediate demand. The information from silo systems could be integrated into a separate individual database and it can undergo the manual cleaning. This method has its pros and cons. Since the undertaking will be implemented in a phased mode, the above scheme would intend keeping bequest and new database till the undertaking goes unrecorded in all the offices. However it besides provides a autumn back mechanism to the bequest database in instance of any issue. The new system can take a few months to settle, where the staff and the clients become familiar with the system. The Information and Technology ( IT ) staff on which the burden is lesser than sales/marketing staff can transport out the manual cleaning. [ Refer appendix for informations migration diagram ] The client today takes certain services for granted, chief being an online service. It enormously adds to the convenience factor of the client. Bearing this in head, a web portal is a necessity. Peppers and Rogers depict how web sites help in retaining clients by offering services in traditionally impossible ways [ 2000 ] . The presence of a amalgamate database would intend that investing required for this would be minimum. Besides, presenting an IVR system with an machine-controlled confirmation service would greatly cut down call clip and the incommodiousness caused to clients by perennial confirmation questions. The following facet of the scheme is to look at cost decrease and organisational restructuring. For a apparatus that involves client naming in for questions, it is instead unneeded to hold four different offices for call centres. Integrating them would greatly cut down disposal and care costs. I would lodge to the recommendation made to unify Milton Keynes office with Birmingham office. There have been instances of companies Virgin, Bata etc switching central offices without impacting their concern. The cost decrease it would convey greatly justifies this move. An facet I would wish to convey about if I do this undertaking once more is affecting clients in make up one’s minding other alterations to be brought about since CRM is a client centric undertaking. Random calls could be made to the clients asking about the alterations they would wish to see in the procedure. Optimizing client relationships requires a complete apprehension of all clients ; profitable every bit good as non-profitable, and so to form concern procedures to handle clients separately based on their demands and their values ( Renner, 2000 ) . This reinforces the advantages to be gained by utilizing the client profiling. One point that was missed out, as pointed out by Mr. Gary was the hazard analysis. Possible hazards such as undertaking failure, unequal return on investing, unplanned undertaking budget alterations, unhappy clients, loss of employee assurance, and recreation of cardinal direction clip and resources must be good thought out ( Schweigert, 2000 ) . Identifying the hazards involved and accordingly mapping the ways to extenuate these hazards would be a great confidence to the client and will besides guarantee better opportunities of forestalling a undertaking failure. Measure 3: Appraisal and Control Argyris and Schon describe the spread between ‘intent ‘ and realisation as the major challenge in strategic direction theory ( 1996 ) . It is of import that the undertaking is invariably reviewed and assessed to do certain its on the right class and it adheres to the program set out. The steps taken by ICG were really good in run intoing this demand. A steering commission and a follow up commission would guarantee that undertaking stuck to its program. The undertaking had a stage â€Å"controlling† every bit good for the intent. Peoples Execution of endeavor engineering, such as CRM and ERP, requires alterations to organisational civilization ( Al-Mashari A ; Zairi, 2000 ) . It is hence of import to fix the people involved for the alteration and do certain they are motivated to encompass the alteration. Most jobs in CRM execution are non proficient. [ Schwartz et Al, 2002 ] identifies organisational alteration as a major challenge for CRM executions. Analyzing the execution scheme, it is clear that the alteration is huge and there is a really valid demand to look into the people aspect. The first thing to make would be to affect the senior direction in the procedure of fixing the staff for the alteration. Cap Gemini and IDC found that top direction and selling and gross revenues direction are by and large the instigators of a corporate CRM undertaking ( 1999 ) . Besides developing Sessionss will be conducted to do them recognize the benefits of the new system and to besides guarantee their credence. Their feedbacks at assorted phases can guarantee that the undertaking is on path and these stairss would besides guarantee their ownership in the undertaking. A major issue to be considered is the resettlement of people in Milton Keynes to Birmingham and besides from the different call centres to the integrated call Centre. There is likely to be opposition in this respect. This issue was non discussed decently in ICG ‘s proposal. I believe that a little hiking in wage is justified to actuate people for the alteration. This would n’t be a load on the company sing the effectual outgo cut. Besides a publicity would be a large psychological motive for the staff even if the salary rise associated with the publicity is minimum. Personal Learning The faculty helped in understanding the constructs of consultancy and how to be professional in the work that you do. It familiarized me with the assorted phases involved in a undertaking and how to undertake each of them. It is most of import to hold a holistic position sing all possible facets. Initially, the focal point had merely been on planing a CRM system. But as the class progressed, I learned to look at the chances for organisational restructuring and investigation for ways to transfuse process optimisation and cost decrease. The experience of working with clip restraints in a really competitory environment has made me confident to take on the universe of confer withing. As for the soft accomplishments, I was a portion of all the meetings with the client and besides handled the RFI presentation and the concluding presentation. It made me confident to talk in forepart of honored persons. The meetings helped me understand the elusive niceties of constructing a resonance by conversation and gestures. I was besides introduced to the art of inquiring the right sort of inquiries to pull out inside informations from the client. The procedure of working in a group besides was a really fulfilling experience. The work was by and large divided among the members and each member came prepared with the subject. This was followed by treatments and encephalon storming about the assorted subjects. This ensured proper analysis of all the subjects and deep apprehension about the same. It besides made certain that everyone in the group was cognizant of all the facets of our proposal. This was highlighted by the fact that during the reappraisal session by the panel after our concluding presentation, all the members answered to the questions. Bibliography Al-Mashari, M. and Zairi, M. ( 2000 ) , â€Å" The effectual application of SAP R/3: a proposed theoretical account of best pattern † , Logistics Information Management, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 156-66. Argyris, C and Schon, D ( 1996 ) Organizational larning II: Theory, Method and Practise. Chen, J.I A ; Popvich.K, 2003. â€Å"Understanding client relationship direction ( CRM ) : Peoples, procedure and technology† in Business Process Management Journal. Vol 9 Daellenbach, S. A ; Davenport, J. 2004. â€Å"Establishing trust during the formation of engineering alliances† in Journal of Technology Transfer, Vol: 29 ( 2 ) Finnigan D.J A ; Willcocks, L.P, ( 2007 ) , Implementing CRM: From engineering to Knowledge Peppard, J. ( 2000 ) , â€Å" Customer relationship direction ( CRM ) in fiscal services † , European Management diary, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 312-27. Peppers, D. and Rogers, four ( 2000 ) , â€Å" Successful Web sites † , DMReview.Com, 4 February. Power.D, 2009. â€Å"Data Quality and MDM ; A information quality mentality additions MDM plan success† in Information Management. Vol 19 ( 2 ) . Renner, D. ( 2000 ) , â€Å" Customer relationship direction: a new arm in your competitory armory † , Siebel Magazine, Vol. 1 No. 2. Rigby, D.K. and Ledingham, D ( 2004 ) CRM done right. Harvard Business Review, 82 ( 11 ) , 118-129 Shwartz, M. , Schliebs, O. and Wyssusek, B. ( 2002 ) Concentrating the Customer: A Critical Approach towards Design and Use of Data Warehousing in Corporate CRM. DMDW Workshop at CAISE, Toronto. Schweigert, D. ( 2000 ) , â€Å" Balancing idealistic V realistic procedures † , in Proceedings of DCI Customer Relationship Management Conference, Boston, MA, 27-29 June How to cite Business System Integration and Consultancy, Essay examples

Social Comparison Theory free essay sample

Introduction Individuals tend to differentiate significantly in conditions of how they observe and assess their personalities abilities. There are individuals who observe themselves more positively and those more realistically. Research has exhibited that an individual possessing an enhanced view of one’s self-concept through social comparison tends to lead to extremely favorable outcomes. Social Comparison Theory The theory that I had chosen to discuss and research about would happen to be the Social Comparison Theory. In this theory, it simply asserts that the process in which people learn about themselves by comparing themselves to other members of society. In addition, it has been assumed that individuals contain a desire to compare their own opinions and abilities. This can be seen through comparison via physical reality or by through other people. However, through studies it had been concluded that individuals were assumed to in normalcy have a preference of comparing other individuals which were similar to themselves. Furthermore, (Kruglanski Mayseless, 1990) reports that there is a three-level analysis of social comparison. The first level, which is the most universal is a judgmental process meaning that social comparisons as judgments need to be thoroughly processed. The second level, which is less universal documents that social comparison as grouping, allocates a specific type of judgment structure. The third and last level, which the least universal relates to the particular contents of a specified comparison. Moreover, it can be noted that there are three forms of social comparisons: first being that individuals tend to minimize comparisons (Brickman Bullman, 1977). Second form being upward social comparison where an individual is comparing him/herself to another individual better then them, in which motivates them to work harder and perform better in order to reach that particular individuals level. Lastly, third form being downward social comparison where an individual is comparing him/herself to another individual worse off. Threatening one’s self-concept, individuals tend to have a preference to compare him/herself with individuals they recognize as worse off then them. Due to this, increase in subjective well-being tends to occur because downward social comparison seems to enhance self-concept and minimize anxiety (Gibbons, 1986). Event In order to understand social comparison theory better, I am going to bring up an event that relates to it. I was volunteering at the Chicago Rehab Institute a year ago and a patient I was working with had been diagnosed as paraplegia due to an accident. I remember one day, he was mentioning to me that to cope better with his condition, he compared himself to his roommate who was far worse off then he was in the sense his roommate had ALS. This illustrates downward social comparison. Another event, but illustrates upward social comparison occurs with my brother. When he was in high school, he was on the track team and he was running the 400 meters. After he had finished the race at the state competition, he had compared his score to that of the high school state record for the 400 meters. Article In addition, to understand this theory even better, it can be related to an empirical article I had found, which basically discusses about social comparison in everyday life. In the article, the author details a new apparatus for students to record their social comparison methods. This new apparatus is called the Rochester Social Comparison Record. It had been found that 1) the direction of comparison differed with the correlation in conjunction with the target; 2) pre-comparison mood had led to an increase in upward compared to downward comparison; 3) downward comparison had increased subjective well- being, while upward comparison had decreased it; and 4) high self-esteem individuals participated in more social comparisons. Furthermore, the authors had concluded three significant findings. First, related comparison tends to be normal with close friendship, while non-related comparisons tend to be normal with distal friendship. Second finding is that comparison target will be inter-correlated to pre-comparison affect. For example, if a person is experiencing a downward comparison, it is a low-subjective well being while if a person is experiencing an upward comparison, it is a high-subjective well being. Third finding is that downward comparison will greatly make an impact on subjective well being, while upward comparison most likely will be directed to negative affective reactions. The last finding that the authors had discovered is that self-esteem and the target of comparison is highly correlated to each other respectively. Looking at downward comparison, individuals that display low self-esteem when their self-esteem is in jeopardy will associate in a downward spiral. Likewise, with upward comparison, individuals that display a positive self-esteem when their self-esteem has significantly increased, will associate in an upward spiral. Conclusion Recommendations It can be noted from the article, events, and theory that their related and connected in a way. All three indicate that within social comparison, human beings tend to compare themselves with others when they lack the ability to assess their opinions and abilities on their own. Moreover, all three exhibit a relation that there are two types of comparisons within social comparison. First being upward social comparison, where an individual compares him/herself with that of another individual who is better off. Second being downward social comparison, when an individual compares him/herself with that of another individual who is lesser off. Furthermore, from the article I had found limitations are always present in any research. The subjects utilized in the study were predominantly first semester freshman and was a class requirement, so instead of truly reflecting their beliefs for researchers to see, they could have just not been truthful just to pass the class. In addition, more women than men had been in participation throughout the study and this could have had an impact on the overall findings and conclusion to how social comparison is used in everyday life. Lastly, comparisons tend most likely to be understated and so with this, it was taken into account that not every individual had reported every instance of social comparison. Concluding, it can be seen that human beings hold an urge for self-evaluation and that human beings have a desire to measure their opinions and acquire some ideas of how skilled they are. This is why social comparison theory is an integral part of how people go about their lives everyday.