Management Information System At Starbucks Management Essay

Management Information System At Starbucks Management Essay This is the age of information where every day brings countless new innovations and changes. Daily lots of new data comes to managers, which needs to be converted into meaningful information in order to derive conclusions to support effective decision making to accomplish organizational objectives. Today due to its increasing importance information is considered as business asset as significant as human resource or machinery. It has become life blood for modern organizations. Before the development of computer systems it was very difficult for the organizations to collect, conserve, organize and disseminate the large amount of important information and data. Todays managers are in better position to acquire needed information at right time due to the developments and widespread of computer technologies. Due to rapid changes in surroundings the information needed for the business should be current and available to the right persons at right times. So the information provided to decision makers must be correct, on time, comprehensive, storable and in well presented in order to get optimum results from it. Thats why the dependence of organizations on information technologies is increasing day by day but information technologies cannot produce results itself it needs to be efficiently and effectively used to derive optimum results. So the mechanism used to ensure the availability of needed information to managers in right time and right form is called informa tion system. It helps the decision making process by providing relevant information (Stephen B. Harsh, 2005). Purpose of the Study: This paper examines the application of integrated management information system and benefits derived by Starbucks on Bank Street near Jubilee Palace in London, UK. Particular objectives of this paper are to: Document the information system used in Starbucks, Jubilee Palace. Identify the uses of information system at all managerial levels of organization. Identify the role of information system in providing the required information. Identify the uses of information system as an effective tool to implement management policies efficiently. Identify the benefits derived by the organization by effectively using information systems. Understand the issues regarding the implementation of the information system. Recommend what is needed to increase the efficiency of the system. MIS and its Functions with critical evaluation of Starbucks, Jubilee Palace: Before discussing the functions of management information system in Starbucks, Jubilee Palace, the understanding of management information system and its related concepts are significant to provide strong base for the study. Technology: The term technology is used to refer the modern machines and tools developed by human beings to support their processes and increase their understanding and control of material environment. Its literal meaning is study of crafting. Information Technology: The tools used to enhance the capabilities of human to collect, organize, preserve and disseminate the valuable information is called information technology. Information technology helps managers to effectively perform their managerial functions to control, administrate and to make effective decisions to achieve organizational objectives. Information technology is not a narrow term it covers all software and hardware used by organizations to collect, organize, preserve and disseminate the required information to needed persons. The information technologies available at Starbucks, Jubilee Palace to support its smooth flow of information are; high speed internet facilities, the network connection of each store on main server located in company head office in United States, Network tools, hardware for storage of data and they have also developed multi-storage system to conserve their useful data. Data Vs Information: Most of the time information and data are considered same things, two words for same meaning, but in fact they are two different terms for two different things. Data are unanalyzed, raw facts and numbers regarding some event but in contrast information is obtained by analyzing and organizing the data in meaningful form. The types of data available at Starbucks, Jubilee Palace, are customer responses, employees information, product information regarding its sales and development, accounting data and data related to operational matters of business. Information strategy: Information strategy or information technology strategy of the organization determines its requirements for variety of information system applications and development of overall systems of organization. Information technology strategy ensures the fulfillment of organizational requirement for information systems (Barnatt, 1994). The information strategy of Starbucks is linked with the overall organizational strategy for success. Starbucks recognizes the significance of information in modern era for the survival of organization so it has developed a strong information system to ensure its competitiveness in the rapidly changing and diverse era. Management Information system: First of all the concept of management information system was used by the U.S. Navy in their report to use computers to manage their resources. After that many researchers defined it according to its scope. Bee and Bee, 1999 defines it as system used to collet the data from external and internal sources and transforms it in to meaningful information and disseminates that in right form to managers working at all three levels of the organization to support the decision making process for better administration and control (Effy Oz, 2008). Functions of management information system with critical evaluation of Starbucks, Jubilee Palace: The goal of any well integrated management information system is to produce optimum results from information gathered by performing following basic functions in an organization: Provide Information in various departments: Management information system is a mechanism used to transform the data into meaningful information and make it available to all concerned people working in any department or at any level of the organization (Lucey, 1997). At Starbucks different types of information are needed for different departments to take effective decisions for organizational success. To make the information available to any department or any level Starbucks has developed a corporate web portal. It is divided into two ways of access. One is Store portal that is used by employees working in retail stores to enter and obtain information and the other is partner portal that is used by employees working in fields and corporate locations. In 2003 this system was implemented and now it has become a primary tool to disseminate information at different organizational level. The paper based correspondence has been replaced by this modern mean. This system has helped a lot to employees to access latest updates and news about the company, creates and access different analysis reports about the business, made available the training materials and made the research results more comprehensive. Company has developed a well organized Transaction processing system that collects the data and stores it in the multilevel data storage facility of the organization. In following figure TPS shows how data transfer from different layers and store in database. Source: (Imran Ali, 2008). The first layer is graphical interface and has clients computers. At this point staff responsible to collect the information enters the data into the dynamic information management system of Starbucks. Then in application layer application servers work on the data and in last layer it is stored in central database of the company. The uses of that system made it easy for the company to utilize its capabilities. Its working is ensured by three components in first application programs that limit the boundaries of the transactions and make that information available to the concerned department by controlling operation performed on that data. Then resource manager gives the access to the information to use in different departments and transaction manager is liable to complete the transactions (Imran Ali, 2008). Facilitate decision making at all levels of organization: Management information system enables the management to perform effectively its functions to organize, co-ordinate and control. It ensures the timely availability of information not only for strategic planning but also to run the day to day operations of the business. Different levels of management need different types of information in different formats. Three levels of organizations management operational, tactical and strategic need different information for their decisions that can be. Operational Information: Detailed information on weekly or day to day basis, more internal, historical in nature, quantitative, high accuracy and having narrow scope. Tactical information: This is level information is gathered from external and internal both types of sources concerning future and current performance of the organization. It requires information in summarized form like information on sales, products, profits and investments. Strategic information: Most of the information required at this level is from external sources like information about the current economic conditions, working of competitors and technological developments. Mostly it is qualitative in nature, for future planning, incomplete, covers wide range, exactness is not important as for other levels and it is very important for the organization. Effective decision making is very much important for the survival of an organization but it is not possible in the absence of right kind of information. The effectiveness of decisions is depends upon the quality of information on which they based. The needs of information at different levels of management should be catered when designing the management information system of the organization. SharePoint Server by Microsoft Office has increased the capabilities of Starbucks greatly by ensuring the availability of required information at all levels of organization (Dux Raymond Sy, 2008). It has two types of interface one is partner portal is accessible by management working at top levels and middle level of the organization it provides more the general, qualitative nature of information to support the strategic planning and tactic level decisions. It works on Decision support system for middle level management and top management and takes information from transaction process system. The other tool used is Executive support system used by top level management to take strategic level decisions that have great significance for the organization. Efficient Mean for managing business processes: In order to run the business processes efficiently the primary need is to have quick and correct information, because by only having quick information the more effective decision making can be possible for the business. The information system plays key role in the controlling function of management and by having effective control the efficiency of processes will increase. Timely information can result in right investments and right investments will result in increased profitability for business. Timely accounts can be prepared by efficient management information system. By using Executive support system top level management can have strict control over all levels of organization. SharePoint Server by Microsoft Office has increased the functional capabilities of Starbucks. Workflow functionality of business documents has enabled the Starbucks to adopt the application of event cycle and request due to that Store employees have obtained a centralized access to the companys key information, web links of different vendors of the company (Dux Raymond Sy, 2008). Through this the efficiency is also increased in management of Sales process and inventory control system. Privacy control of the system is also very well as it helps a lot to the company to properly manage and secure the information gathered from employees as well as customers of the company. Advance search options have enabled the organizations employees to search different documents from different libraries at a same time by area of interest, document type and its contents. This increased the efficiency of the system as well. The total information management system has raised the capabilities of Starbucks and moreover effective communication between management and employees has increased the efficiencies of the company processes. Analysis: Major benefits derived by Starbucks, Jubilee Palace, from information management system. Starbucks is the leading Coffee providing company in the world. They have implemented Microsoft SharePoint Server system to manage their information effectively. It has provided them so many benefits by implementing information management system. Core Competencies: Every company that leads on its competitors has some core competencies that give them advantage over their competitors. The information system used by Starbucks has provided it a clear advantage on its competitors and no other coffee retailer has such a dynamic information management system. It has enabled the company to have better and deep understanding of the market by regularly maintaining the customer data and also the understanding of the organization itself. Enhanced supply chain management system: The reporting system of the company is improved by this information system that has improved the production process. Better information about production process has enhanced the supply chain management capability of the company from sourcing the raw materials to production process and then distribution process at each level improvement are brought by information. Multilevel Storage system: In order to save and ensure the maximum security of data Starbucks has outsourced the storage facility of data to data warehouse. This has not only saved the costs of Starbucks for preservation of data but also ensures the protection of it in all circumstances. Quick Responses: Now with highly efficient system of information, Starbucks is in position to react more quickly towards the market changes. It has enabled the company to have more efficient system more reactive to environment. It has also increased its competitiveness. Digital Dashboards: A very modern technology that is used by Starbucks to help the strategic level decision making process is digital dashboard. In this Key performance Indicator (KPI) application is used by the top management that provides it information about the key performance of the organization. It shows the performance by showing it on a digital dashboard that shows progress of the organization towards organizational goals (Dux Raymond Sy, 2008). Stability: It has increased the capacity and store growth by providing effective tools for reporting and monitoring the system by ensuring stability of functions. Employees efficiency: Efficiency of employees is increased greatly due to the availability of easy to use portal and easy access to the required information for the operations. Enhanced tools of privacy and document management has increased the data security and raised the functionality. Overall Objectives: By using this system the employees are in position to align the store objectives with overall organizational objectives and can generate more quick reports and do analysis. Challenges to the system Although information technology developments have brought many improvements in the functioning of organization but just implementation of new technologies do not improve the organizational performance many other factors also contribute towards the overall organizational performance. Starbucks although has implemented a very dynamic information management system but on other hands a kind of insecurity prevails in employees of the store. They have kind of fear to adopt new technologies and modern information management system. At one side if modern system of information management has made the access to information easy on other hand the employment has also been affected by this sophisticated system as it requires more skilled and trained staff. The significance of skilled and motivated workers has increased greatly and increased the costs to train the manpower. In order to effectively implement this modern information technology system Starbucks not only needs more investments in physical assets and technologies but it will also have to make investments on managing close relationships with all stakeholders. Recommendations: After having a brief analysis of Starbucks, Jubilee Palace system of information management now we are in position to recommend many improvements to the system that can raise its efficiency: The current management information system is very rigid and dont offer facility to add extra features with rapidly changing environment and technological developments. It should be flexible enough to add more evaluation and data analysis tools in future. It should be supportive to employees knowledge and skills. More training and learning facilities should be provided to employees to become familiar with the modern system. New system is raising a sense of insecurity and a king of fear in employees. It should be taken seriously and motivational workshops should be conducted to reduce these non friendly elements. They should be provided opportunities to communicate with other employees in the organization. The switching process from one application to other applications takes a lot of time in current system of Starbucks it should be reduced and also managers should not be overloaded with work. Another big issue with the information system of Starbucks is that it is totally based on web based technologies. If a company claims to have a competent website, it does not mean it actually does have. So the proper physical record system should be there mean in case of inefficiency or breakdown of this system its substitute should be available. Funding should be provided to the project without any disturbance because implementation of information system for such a huge organization needs a lot of resources. Although the profits of Starbucks have been decreased in last two years since 2008 but when it will successfully upgrade the management information system it will reduce its cost greatly as in simple its need to have central servers will reduce to half from 52 to 20. This will enable the company to not only save the infrastructural costs but also to reduce many other complimentary costs. Like requirement of system managers and system care staff will reduce to half. Conclusion: The information system used by the Starbucks is one of its important resources that provide it a clear advantage on its competitors. Starbucks is spending huge amounts of money on the development of this system and now it is one of its core capabilities. The effective use of information technologies is considered as major determinant of future success of organizations. The effective use of management information system has greatly improved the functional capabilities of the Starbucks and raised the decision making capabilities of organization as well. Adriana Harizanova, (2003), Management Information System, Academic Open Internet Journal, Volume 9 Bee, R., Bee, F., (1999). Managing Information and Statistic. Trowbridge: Cromwell Press. Barnatt, Chr., (1994). The computers in Business Blueprints, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford. David Boddy,  Albert Boonstra,  Graham Kennedy, (2005), Managing information systems, Prentice Hall, 157-163 Dux Raymond Sy, (2008). SharePoint Empowerment: Making Document Management and Organizational Collaboration Easier, Learning Tree International, Washington Effy Oz, (2008), Management Information Systems, strategic uses of information system, 39. House, William C. (1983). Decision Support Systems A Data-Based, Model-Oriented User-Developed Discipline. Petrocelli Books, Inc. New York, NY. Imran Ali, (2008) Starbucks Reduces Costs and Prepares for Growth with Server Upgrade, Customer Solution Case Study, Microsoft Corporation, USA James Edward McClellan, Harold Dorn, (2006), Science and technology in world history, 155. J. Heizer and B. Render, (2008), Case Studies on Productivity Improvement, Starbucks, modified from Operations Management, Lucey, T., (1997). Management Information Systems. London. MAIER R and LEHNER F (2000) Perspectives on knowledge management systemsFtheoretical framework and design of an empirical study. In Proceedings of ECIS 2000, pp 685-693, Vienna, Austria. Mcleod, (2008), Management Information Systems, 10/e, 34-52. Papows, J., (1998). Enterprise.com: Market Leadership in Information Age. Nicholas Brealey Publishing, London Ralph Sanders, (1999), the executive decisionmaking process:  identifying problems and assessing outcomes, 46 Starbucks, W. (2006). The production of knowledge: The challenge of socials science research. Oxford University press, Oxford. Stephen B. Harsh, (2005), MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS, Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University

Observations Essay

Just like the process science proceeds through, the stepping stones to reaching the deepest understanding of one’s own personality, follow the same distinct pathway. The first step into anything, including both scientific understanding as well as the understanding of one’s personality, is to observe our surroundings. The way one can do this is by using solely one’s unassisted five natural senses (taste, smell, touch, sight, and hearing, but one can also do this with items that can enhance and assist our five senses. These observations are also called unsystematic observations. The second step in this process is called building theories which is doing exactly what it says, creating a theory. This is accomplished by collecting and analyzing the observations that were discovered in step one. In the third step, evaluating propositions, one takes the theories from step two that derived from the observations gathered in step one, this is tested through a process call ed the context of justification. This is where one attempts to justify why the theory may or may not be true as well as using observations to prove or disprove one’s theories. The term personality is defined as, the combination of different traits or qualities that form an individual’s distinct character. There are theories of the personality as well such as, trait theories, psychodynamic theories, behavioral theories, and humanist theories. Trait theories suggest that there are a limited number of personality types that are influenced by biological factors. Psychodynamic theories emphasize the influence of the unconscious mind of the personality. Behavioral theories suggest that the personality is formed through and are the result of an individual’s interaction with their environment. Humanist theories emphasize the importance of free will and individual experience in  the personality’s development. Based on the newly acquired knowledge about unsystematic observation, building theories, and evaluating propositions as well as the already known knowledge of the personality, I can apply these suggested processes to better understand my own personality. I have a real issue with road rage, and by using unsystematic observations I have noticed what things tend to trigger my road rage, such as people tailgating me, the way I drive personally, and the type of environments I tend to have to drive around in while on the go. I also observed my reactions to these situations and have begun to develop a theory and have been building a theory based off my observations. I have noticed I tend to be impatient in similar high pressure situations such as crowded areas and close contact situations, like malls and stores, which is very similar to when I am driving. I then have been to begin evaluating the propositions through the context of justification and have found that my observations have proven that my road rage results from my impatience in high pressure and close contact situations. Work Cited: http://psychology.about.com/od/overviewofpersonality/a/persondef.htm PART I THE BACKGROUND: PERSONS, HUMAN NATURE, AND CULTURE, Copyright  © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Roberts,Ashley Week 1 CheckPoint: Observations Write a 200- to 300-word response to the following: How have you used the scientific process (unsystematic observation, building theories, and evaluating propositions) in your life to better understand your personality? Provide an example in your response.

Ib Psychology Sociocultural Notes

Explain the formation of stereotypes and their effect on behavior. †¢Definition: Stereotypes assign similar characteristics to all members of a group, despite the fact that the group members may vary widely from one another. †¢Characteristics: †¢social-cognitive theories: †¢our social world is very complex and presents us with too much information †¢since our capacity to process information is limited, there is a need to simplify our social way †¢one of the way to avoid information overload is social categorization †¢these are stereotypes Stereotypes simplify information processing in social perception †¢stereotypes are schemas as they: are energy-saving devices, automatically activated, stable and resistant to change, affect behavior. †¢Not stable across cluture Studies COHEN Cohen presented participants with a videotape showing a woman having dinner with her husband. Half the participants were told that the woman was a waitress and the r est that she was a librarian. At a later memory test, participants showed better recall for stereotype- consistent information. Those who thought she was a waitress remembered her beer drinking.Participants who thought she was a librarian were more likely to remember that she was wearing glasses and was listening to classical music. Like the studies on the effects of schemas, Cohen’s study shows that we are likely to notice and subsequently remember information which is consistent with our stereotypes. FISKE AND DYER Like all schemas, stereotypes are formed over time on the basis of relevant experiences. For Fiske and Dyer (1985), stereotype formation begins with the learning of independent schema elements. For example, the formation of a ender schema for ‘female’ begins with isolated elements such as ‘girls dress in pink’ and ‘girls play with dolls’ whereas, ‘boys dress in blue and play with cars’. With advancing age additi onal elements are added, such as information about gender-appropriate behaviours and work-related preferences. Eventually, strong associations form between all the various elements and a single schema emerges. Once formed, repeated practice in the use of the schema may lead to such levels of integration that it can be activated automatically and unconsciously seen then. Bargh Participants in this experiment were asked to complete a test involving 30 items.This task was presented to the participants as a language proficiency task. Each of the 30 items consisted of five unrelated words. For each item participants had to use four of the five words to form, as fast as possible, a grammatically correct sentence. There were two conditions in this experiment. In one, the task contained words related to and intending to activate the elderly stereotype (e. g. grey, retired, wise). In the other condition, the words used were unrelated to the elderly stereotype (e. g. thirsty, clean, private). After completing the experimental tasks, participants were directed towards the elevator.A confederate, sitting in the corridor, timed how long the participants took to walk from the experimental room to the elevator. †¢Bargh et al. found that participants who had their elderly stereotype activated walked significantly more slowly towards the elevator than the rest of the participants. Priming of this stereotype must have taken place unconsciously. As Bargh et al. note, the task words did not directly relate to time or speed and no conscious awareness of the elderly stereotype was ever in evidence for the duration of the study. Illusory correlationThese researchers asked participants to read descriptions about two made-up groups (Group A and Group B). The descriptions were based on a number of positive and negative behaviours. Group A (the majority group) had twice as many members than Group B (the minority group). In the descriptions, Group A members performed 18 positive and 8 negative behaviours. Group B members performed 9 positive and 4 negative behaviours. So, for both groups, twice as much of the information involved positive, rather than negative, behaviours. Clearly, there was no correlation between group membership and the types of behaviours exhibited by the groups.However, when asked later, participants did seem to have perceived an illusory correlation. More of the undesirable behaviours were attributed to the minority Group B, than the majority Group A. Hamilton and Gifford’s explanation of their findings is based on the idea that distinctive information draws attention. Group B members and negative behaviours are both numerically fewer and therefore more distinct than Group A members and negative behaviours. The combination of Group B members performing negative behaviours, therefore, stands out more than the combination of Group A members performing such behaviours.This causes the illusory correlation. †¢Explain social learnin g theory, making reference to two relevant studies. Social Learning theory: In particular social learning theorists emphasise the role of observation and imitation of role models. In general, social development is seen as a continuous learning process, rather than as happening in stages. -If children were passive witnesses to an aggressive display by an adult they would imitate this aggressive behavior when given the opportunity. -The researchers attempted to reduce this problem by pre-testing the children for how aggressive they were.They did this by observing the children in the nursery and judged their aggressive behaviour on four 5-point rating scales. It was then possible to match the children in each group so that they had similar levels of aggression in their everyday behaviour. The experiment is therefore an example of a matched pairs design. Controlled 24 in a group The findings support Bandura's Social Learning Theory. That is, children learn social behaviour such as aggre ssion through the process of observation learning – through watching the behaviour of another person.The findings from this and similar studies have been used in the argument that media violence might be contributing in some degree to violence in society. The obvious criticism of this argument is that there are many other factors influencing whether or not we are likely to imitate screen violence. One of the major factors is perhaps the level of aggression we already have, which might have been learned, in our family relationships or elsewhere. The major criticism of the Social Learning Approach to child development is its oversimplified description of human behaviour.Although it can explain some quite complex behaviour it cannot adequately account for how we develop a whole range of behaviour including thoughts and feelings. We have a lot of cognitive control over our behaviour and simply because we have had experiences of violence does not mean we have to reproduce such beh aviour. It is also worth noting that the Social Learning Approach has little room for the role of inherited factors or for the role of maturation in development. This theory assumes that humans learn behavior through observational learning – in other words, people can learn by watching models and imitating their behavior.Explain Attention: The person must first pay attention to the model. Retention: The observer must be able to remember that behavior has been observed. Motor reproduction: The observer has to be able to replicate the action. Coding/remember the act. Motivation: Learners must want to demonstrate what they have learned. Whether or not they like the model. Liking. Rewards/punishment. Identification. Consistency. Internalized outcome expectancies. Increases the likelihood of carrying out. If we identify with the model (we want to be like them) Bandura: Reinforcement is not necessary for learningVicarious- Unintentionally picking up something. Indirect learning. Un conscious. This theory assumes that humans learn behavior through observational learning – in other words, people can learn by watching models and imitating their behavior. Attention: The person must first pay attention to the model. Retention: The observer must be able to remember that behavior has been observed. Motor reproduction: The observer has to be able to replicate the action. Coding/remember the act. Motivation: Learners must want to demonstrate what they have learned. Whether or not they like the model. Liking. Rewards/punishment.Identification. Consistency. If we identify with the model (we want to be like them) Internalized outcome expectancies. Increases the likelihood of carrying out. Bandura: Reinforcement is not necessary for learning Vicarious- Unintentionally picking up something. Indirect learning. Unconscious. Conscious Control condition – The children were shown the film with the adult behaving aggressively towards the Bobo doll. Model-rewarded co ndition – Children saw the same film used in the control condition but after the aggression was over, a second adult appeared in the film to reward the aggressor with sweets and a soft drink.Bobo dolls are clown-like dolls with a weight in the bottom. They are designed in such a way as to always bounce back when knocked down. Model-punished condition – As the model-rewarded condition, but the second adult scolded and spanked the model for behaving aggressively. After viewing the film, all the children were taken individually into a playroom with several toys which included a Bobo doll and a mallet. While in the playroom, the children’s behaviour was observed for a period of 10 minutes and any acts of aggression similar to those performed by the model were recorded.The control and the model-rewarded groups showed an equal level of aggressiveness towards the Bobo doll (2. 5 acts). The model-punished condition was associated with significantly fewer aggressive acts (1. 5 acts). However, when at a later stage the children were asked to reproduce the behaviour of the model and were rewarded for each act of aggression they displayed, they all (regardless of which original condition they were in) produced the same number of aggressive acts (3. 5 acts). Bandura’s study exemplified and supported the following features of SLT.Vicarious (observational) learning – The children clearly learned specific aggressive behaviours by observing the adult model. The learning manifested during the second part of the study was based on vicarious reinforcement or punishment as the children were never rewarded or punished themselves. Reinforcement or punishment was necessary for performance not learning: All children behaved in an equally aggressive manner towards the Bobo doll when rewarded to do so. Selective imitation in 14-month-old infants (Gergely et al. , 2002) This experiment used 14-month-old infants as participants and involved two condition s.Hands-free condition – In this condition, the infants observed an adult place her hands on a table. Following this, she used a strange action to illuminate a light box: she bent over and pressed the box with her forehead. One week later, the same infants were given the opportunity to play with the box; 69% of them used their head to illuminate the light. Hands-occupied condition – Infants in this condition observed the adult perform the same strange action to illuminate the box. In this condition, however, the model was using her hands to hold a blanket around her shoulders.This rendered the hands unavailable for other actions. When given the opportunity one week later to play with the box, only 21% of the infants illuminated the light by using their head. The rest used their hands to press the light. Discussing their findings, Gergely et al. note that in the hands-occupied condition infants seem to have assumed that the adult used her head because she had to. But th is constraint did not apply to the infants. In the hands-free condition, the adult could have chosen to use her hands. She did not.The children seem to have assumed there must have been a reason for this choice, so they copied it. †¢Discuss the use of compliance techniques (for example, lowballing, foot? in? the? door, reciprocity). Aronson et al. (2007) define compliance as ‘a form of social influence involving direct requests from one person to another’. A demonstration of the FITD technique (Freeman and Fraser, 1966) These researchers arranged for a researcher, posing as a volunteer worker, to ask a number of householders in California to allow a big ugly public-service sign reading ‘Drive Carefully’ to be placed in their front gardens.Only 17% of the householders complied with this request. A different set of homeowners was asked whether they would display a small ‘Be a Safe Driver’ sign. Nearly all of those asked agreed with this requ est. Two weeks later these same homeowners were asked, by a ‘volunteer worker’, whether they would display the much bigger and ugly ‘Drive Carefully’ sign in their front gardens. 76% of them complied with this second request, a far higher percentage than the 17% who had complied in the first condition.In a second study, Freedman and Frazer (1966) first asked a number of householders to sign a petition in favour of keeping California beautiful, something nearly everybody agreed to do. After two weeks, they send a new ‘volunteer worker’ who asked these homeowners whether they would allow the big and ugly ‘Drive Carefully’ sign of the previous study to be displayed in their front gardens. Note that the two requests relate to completely different topics, but nearly half of the homeowners agreed with the second request.Again, this is significantly higher than the 17% of homeowners who agreed to display the sign in the absence of any pri or contact. But, how could the findings of the second experiment be explained? According to Freeman and Frazer (1966), signing the petition changed the view the homeowners had about themselves. As a result, they saw themselves as unselfish citizens with well-developed civic principles. Agreeing, two weeks later, to display the ‘Drive Carefully’ sign reflected their need to comply with their newly-formed self-image.Not only do commitments change us but also, to use Gialdini’s own expression, they ‘grow their own legs’. Sherman (1980) called residents in Indiana (USA) and asked them if, hypothetically, they would volunteer to spend 3 hours collecting for the American Cancer Society. Three days later, a second experimenter called the same people and actually requested help for this organization. Of those responding to the earlier request, 31% agreed to help. This is much higher than the 4% of a similar group of people who volunteered to help when approa ched directly. Low-ballingIt involves changing an offer to make it less attractive to the target person after this person has agreed to it. A demonstration of lowballing (Burger and Cornelius, 2003) In this study, students were contacted by phone by a female caller and asked whether they would be prepared to donate five dollars to a scholarship fund for underprivileged students. There were three experimental conditions. The lowball condition – Students were told that those who contributed would receive a coupon for a free smoothie at a local juice bar. Students who agreed were then informed that the investigator realized she had run out of coupons.The students were asked if they would still be willing to contribute. 77. 6% agreed to make a donation in this condition. The interrupt condition – The caller made the same initial request as in the lowball condition. However, before the participants had a chance to give their answer, the caller interrupted them to let them know that there were no more coupons left. Only 16% of the participants made a donation in this condition. The control condition – Participants were simply asked to donate the five dollars without any mention of coupons. 42% made a donation in the control condition.The results support the view that the lowball technique is based on the principle of commitment. The technique is effective only when individuals make an initial public commitment. Once they have made this commitment, individuals feel obliged to act in accordance with it even when the conditions that led to them making the commitment have changed, (Cialdini, 2009). †¢Discuss factors influencing conformity (for example, culture, groupthink, risky shift, minority influence). Examine the role of two cultural dimensions on behaviour (for example, individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, Confucian dynamism).We have already defined the terms individualism and collectivism as used by Hofstede. Cultures di ffer with respect to how they socialize their members to develop identities that are either individually or collectively based. In individualistic cultures: -the personal is emphasized more than the social -persons are viewed as unique -individual autonomy and self-expression are valued -competitiveness and self-sufficiency are highly regarded. Societies high on collectivism are characterized by giving priority to the goals of important groups (e. g. xtended family, work group) and define one’s identity on the basis of one’s membership of such groups. So, in collectivist cultures: -the social is emphasized more than the personal -the self is defined by long-standing relationships and obligations -individual autonomy and self-expression are not encouraged -there is more of an emphasis on achieving group harmony rather than on individual achievement. It is not that members of individualistic societies do not have the need to belong or that their identities are exclusivel y personal identities.SIT was after all developed in individualistic counties (e. g. UK, Australia) to explain primarily the behaviour of members of those societies. However, they are less focused on group harmony or doing their duty for the types of mostly traditional group that collectivist societies are based on (Brewer and Chen, 2007). This hypothesis was tested in a field experiment–experimental study by Petrova et al. (2007). Their study involved over 3000 students of a US university. Nearly half were native US students and the rest were Asian students at the same university.All were sent an e-mail asking them to participate in a survey. A month later, the students received a second e-mail asking them whether they would agree to take part in an online survey. Petrova et al. obtained the standard FITD effect. The proportion of students who had agreed to the first survey and then agreed to the second was higher than the proportion who had initially agreed to the first sur vey. More importantly, the researchers also found that compliance was twice as strong with the native US students as it was with the Asian students for the second equest. This finding is even more remarkable if one takes into account that the first request led to a higher level of compliance among the Asian students. Bond and Smith (1996) carried out a meta-analysis of 133 conformity studies all using the Asch paradigm. The studies were carried out in 17 countries. The meta-analysis showed that more conformity was obtained in collectivistic countries like the Fiji Islands, Hong Kong and Brazil than in individualistic countries like the USA, the UK or France (Table 4. 2).Bond and Smith’s findings are consistent with the way that the individualism/collectivism dimension was portrayed earlier (pages 135–136). Members of collectivistic countries value conformity because it promotes supportive group relationships and reduces conflicts. This, agreeing with others in collecti vist societies is more likely to be viewed as a sign of sensitivity than one of submission to somebody else’s will, which is the way it is often perceived in individualistic cultures (Hodges and Geyer, 2006). Many have argued that time is not defined and perceived in the same way everywhere.To a significant extent, the way humans experience time is influenced by their culture (Hall, 1959). In 2001, Hofstede proposed a classification of cultures based on their time orientation. In the mid-80s, Bond asked a number of Chinese social scientists to create a list of what Chinese people viewed as their basic values (Hofstede and Bond, 1988). A questionnaire, based on this list, was then administered to people in 23 countries. The outcome of this project was the emergence of a fifth cultural dimension, not related to the other four originally identified by Hofstede (page 000).The additional dimension was called Confucian dynamism because it reflected Confucius’s ideas about th e importance of perseverance, patience, social hierarchy, thrift and having a sense of shame. The new dimension was later renamed long-term vs short-time orientation. Cultures scoring high on this dimension show a dynamic, future-oriented mentality. These are cultures that value long-standing, as opposed to short-term, traditions and values. Individuals in such cultures strive to fulfil their own long-term social obligations and avoid loss of face. Cultures with a short-term view are not as concerned with past traditions.They are rather impatient, are present-oriented and strive for immediate results. In practical terms, the long-term versus short-term orientation refers to the degree to which cultures encourage delayed gratification of material, social, and emotional needs among their members (Matsumoto and Juang, 2008). †¢Seven of the ten highest ranking countries on Hofstede’s time orientation dimension were in Asia. Western countries tended to be more short-term orie nted. In eastern countries, characterized by a long-time orientation, patience is valued more than in Western countries.Based on this, Chen et al. predicted that part of the Western mentality is to place a higher value on immediate consumption than an eastern mentality. They investigated this idea in an experimental study using 147 Singaporean ‘bicultural participants’. This technique uses participants who have been exposed extensively to two different cultures (in this case, Singaporean and American) and assumes that both can affect behaviour depending on which is more actively represented in the mind at any particular moment. Chen et al. electively activated one or the other of the two cultures by presenting half the participants with a collage of easily recognizable photos which were relevant to Singaporean culture and the other half with a collage of photos relevant to US culture. Impatience was tested by having the participants perform an online shopping scenario i n order to purchase a novel. The book could be delivered either within four working days for a standard fee or next day for an additional charge. The extra money participants were willing to pay for faster delivery of the book was used as a measure of impatience.Chen et al. found that US-primed participants valued immediate consumption more than the Singaporean-primed participants. Strong support of cultural differences in time orientation comes from an impressive study by Wang et al. (2009). They surveyed over 5000 university students in 45 countries and compared them on time orientation. They found, for instance, that students coming from what they call long-term orientation cultures were also more likely to postpone immediate satisfaction and wait for bigger rewards later.Ayoun and Moreo (2009) used a survey method to investigate the influence of time orientation on the strategic behaviour of hotel managers. A questionnaire was posted to top-level hotel managers in the USA and Th ailand. Compared to US managers, Thai managers were found to place a stronger emphasis on longer-term strategic plans and a stronger reliance on long-term evaluation of strategy. Cultural differences in time orientation also seem to relate to everyday behaviours.Levine and Norenzayan (1999) measured how fast people walked a 60-foot distance in downtown areas in major cities, the speed of a visit to a post office, and the accuracy of clocks in 31 countries. They found that life pace, as indicated by the activities they measured, was fastest in countries like Switzerland, Ireland and Germany and slowest in Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil, and Syria. The last three studies are natural experiments and, in effect, observational studies. Their findings should, therefore, be interpreted with caution as no confident causal statements can be made in the absence of adequate extraneous variables.

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