The Meaning and Impact of Data: From Individuals to Companies

Decision-making is a process of exploring the possibilities, and merging with a group or themselves in order to come up with a solution. Using data to make a decision can be explained in numerous ways.  Corporations, schools, students, teachers, scientists, researchers, innovation teams, and individuals use data to make decisions every day.  Making a decision based on data is common for everyone that is human.  We make decisions from what we read, write, see, and hear.

In dealing with the question of, how enormous amounts of data leads people to change their concept of how the world works involves sources like the media, press, and face-to-face conversations. Making sense of data and information to make a decision is in our human nature.  Some examples of the decision that we make are weather reports seen on TV, the prices of what food is in grocery stores, what school to go to, and what doctor to see.  Using the information that is available to us guides us through life.  During our days as humans we can decide not to deicide, and make decisions that we think are sometimes right and wrong.   

Thinkers and feelings are two categories of what kind of decision maker someone is.  A thinker may use things such as there reason, logic, and objectives in order to make a decision.  In order for a feeler to make a decision they use their, heart, and values.  This relates to the specific data that an individual chooses to believe or use.    

In the business culture data and decision-making is a very important skill to have not only to help others but individuals that are making a decision.  This brings up the topic of problem solving within a business, and a lot of the time this is put on the CEO, management, and team leaders.  In a professional environment using data to problem solve and make a decision requires recognizing the task at hand.  In a business and corporation it is important not to make decisions that will hurt the company. Sociology of Management, a current course I am taking discusses how good corporations make decisions that help and at times hurt a business. How the Mighty Fall, by Jim Collins one of he required books for class explains decision making and how data/information from successful and unsuccessful companies can help other corporations succeed. Decisions making has two major stages, problem identification and problem solutions.  Problem identification is “information about environmental and organizational conditions that are monitored to determine if performance is satisfactory in order to diagnose the cause of shortcomings, while the problem solution is a stage where alternative courses of action are considered and one alternative is selected and then implemented”.  How does this relate to the topic of how data leads people to change notions of how the world works?  Well, to make a decision in business there are steps that need to be taken to insure that the right decision is made. 

Data is collected from several parts of a company in order to hire the right people in order to put the right people in charge. Data is also collected to show and give other businesses a format to follow when hiring the right people. This is seen in a study done by Jim Collins, in How the Mighty Fall.  He describes two companies, Hewlett Packer (HP) and International Business Machines (IBM).  Both companies hire new CEO’s in order to achieve excellence after the corporations have fell tremendously in the early 1990’s.  HP hired Carly Fiornia, because the board at HP wanted a powerful, glamorous, exciting and celebrity leader.  In 1999, right before Fiornia was hired she was announced as the most powerful woman, right above Oprah Winfrey.  Fiornia did not succeed the expectations of the company because even though she was so powerful she didn’t use the right techniques and steps.  Fiornia made rash and fast decisions that helped the company in the short-run, but then hurt HP in the long run.  She was too busy with creating new slogans, and attracting media such as The Wall Street Journal, and even did a TV commercial.  She was eventually fired because the company began to fall.  In contrast to HP, the newly hired CEO of IBM, Louis V. Gerstner wanted to first concentrate on the task at hand and began to meet with management face-to-face to collect data in order to organize a plan for success.  He took a much different approach then Fiornia where his priorities revolved around basic activities, such as making sure the right people were in key seats.  He wanted to “regain profitability, increase cash flow, and put the costumer back at the center of everything” (Collins).  He took a much more pedestrian method, and declined to many interviews, and stories that media wanted to do on him because he saw that it would hurt the company and take it off track. 

When compared to Fiornia, and asked why he didn’t feel a sense of crises? He stated, “I have a sense of urgency that never changes whether we’re doing well or poorly.”  This is the right way to do things because he saw the large picture of things, while Fiornia didn’t.  In conclusion Gerstner increased profitability by slow and gradual change, while Fiornia used a more erratic pattern of change that did not work.    

This is just one example of many that show how data can change the way people’s notions of the world; in this case it was a company atmosphere.  Reviewing data, forming hypothesis, and creating the right plans of action helps not only companies but also every day people in society.  Both IBM and HP wanted to become great companies and they hired new CEO’s to help them do this.  Both companies collected data and information that helped them succeed and not succeed.  When a company fails the blame cannot only be put on the CEO’s/ leader but it is the data that the board of that company used.  Data is used to move toward a goal of creating positive change, and the decisions from that data can also be unsuccessful.
Why Data Matters

Innovation, invention, and implementation are also aspects within a company where data.  These are three aspects that companies use to become an effective and powerful force.  In order to become a successful competitor in the corporation world, companies must take risks, accept failure and work from their failures, and get everyone from small employees to large to participate in plans and implement them.  It is a company as a whole, and not just one person that collects data that they see important.  Getting the whole company involved in data collection is very important in decision-making because it is a deciding factor of a successful corporation.

Shoes And Dresses

I think that options will lead to my premature death. Throughout life I've been faced with options, and as an indecisive person options are more or less equivalent to adversity.

Now what does this have to do with technology and culture? Shoes, dresses… and more shoes. I've been searching for the perfect gown and strappy sandal combination for a week. I've found many things I like but nothing I love (at least in combination). So I settled for less. I purchased an over priced gown that is a size too big, despite the fact that it doesn't come smaller and a poorly made pair of heels that are surely going to do a better job escorting my face to the floor than they will help me glide into the elegant 1920s ball room. Oh well.

I'm pretty much positive that America’s capitalist economy is the cause of my problem. Capitalism has bred market conditions that are conducive to a saturated market and competition between vendors that has inspired them to skimp on quality A.K.A my shitty shoes.

Back in the day, the American/English textiles and clothing industry was something great. Tailors and their apprentices would make each article of clothing with love and by hand while customizing their individual designs to their client’s personality. There was also usually only one person who worked the garment from its conception to its maturation, which lead to pride in the work and innovation in design based on the personal goals of the Taylor.

Now, design is a collaborative process that has been placed on Gerald Ford's revolutionary assembly line. By dissecting the creation of a garment, capitalism has taken the pride out of the work; thus turning the creator into a mere assembler. Technology has allowed this to happen, and in that respect technology has failed us. Increase in technology has allowed vendors to cut corners and to concentrate on solely maximizing profits, again: leading to crappy quality.

Every generation throughout modern history has used the phrase, “they don’t make things the way they used to.” The fact that each generation has used this phrase indicates that the general trend of product quality has gone down while the increase in innovative technology has gone up. This indirect relationship leads me to the following point. Technology does not have the ability to surpass or even equate to the innovations of the human mind.

The human mind incorporates passion, emotion, intuition and humor into every idea it has and every item it creates. The human mind is also capable of thinking laterally (from a to c back to a) vs. the computer, which is only equipped to think linearly (from a to b to c). Ergo, while creating a product or working to accomplish a task it may be easy to gravitate to the crutch of the computer or the calculator, please don’t sell yourself short. Your mind is your greatest tool, and it always will be.

The Price of Luxury

I am notorious for my intolerance to wake up early. But when I heard that Larry Koch, the M-brand manager for BMW was taking the liberty to discuss his company over bagels and coffee I thought to myself, “hmmm….why not”. However, upon arriving to the discussion I noticed the conversation flowed in a more economic and business context than pure interest. Then I heard this, “How do you feel about social networking sites like twitter?” asks the random girl, who not only arrived half an hour into our 9:15am discussion, but also had the brilliant nerve to ask a question that was nowhere near the context of what we had been discussing with Mr. Larry Koch. “It’s fantastic!” he replies, looking over in my direction as I realize how surprised I must have seemed he muttered, “...well,from our stand point”. Whoa! I was truly stunned. I love twitter, and after running into so many people who do not appreciate it the way I do it was even more intriguing to hear what this car guru had to say. He went on to state how social networking allows luxury car brands to specifically advertise to their target audience. Prior to social networking, car companies used three forms of media to promote its products and those mediums were:

1.)Print Media (ex. newspaper ad, magazine ad, promotional brochures)

2.)T.V. Commercial

3.)Email

Sounds like a decent variety however, the main issues with these mediums are the fact that about 97% of the people it reaches are interested and only about 3% of them can afford the product. However, Social networking allows the companies to advertise to their specific target in a more direct and cost efficient matter. For example, Mr. Koch stated that emails for his company we’re about $2 an email while a tweet may be of little to no cost in comparison.
The other advantage of social networking that Koch brought up was a surprise reaction which increased the promotion on the behalf of his company. This was the BMW mini film series, a brilliant plan the company decided to launch during the post 9/11 economic slump; BMW partnered up with Hollywood using major entertainers such as: Justin Timberlake, Madonna, and actor Daniel Craig just to name a few,who played in the new James Bond film at the time, to film mini movies with brand new models of BMW’s M5 as the center piece of the clips. Due to websites like twitter, the ad was spread worldwide within a matter of minutes. Social networking had a huge impact in making the film series an instant sensation, even blog writers were posting their own opinions as well as praises for the commotion BMW was able to generate. This was a significant event for car companies worldwide who were suffering huge profit loss during this time, and led to imitations of the film series that did not do as well. Koch credits a lot of the success to social networking. During a time when BMW M-Brand Company went from making about $17million a year in the US to $10 million, due to the growing power of the Euro which at one point had been a equivalent $1.50= € 1; Things like dominantly influential advertising and marketing tools were greatly significant to the company.



This was so mind boggling to me I’ve always had a thing for all things luxurious which in my opinions include cars and I’ve always had a knack for marketing. Even so I never knew how prominent something like twitter could be for a company like BMW. Especially because when I was first introduced to the twitter realm I associated influential persons involved in the entertainment world, and the arts. To finally witness someone from a whole another spectrum, value Twitter and other social networking sites as the remarkable tools they can be is great.

Shop until you drop ….or not!?

Most women want to hear two special words from the person they love, expressing their deepest emotions towards them. The desire to hear the gentle and kind phrase, “shopping spree!”,as a signification of their partner’s compassion and understanding of the woman’s need for retail therapy, is what we live for. But, in this day and age this simple concept has been made extremely complicated! I for one love to shop, I would shop in the morning at night midday and even in my sleep if I could. Due to this “clever” invention of internet shopping what was once a simple distressing tool, is now an enormous catalog interface that brings about anxiety. I remember when internet shopping began to flourish, sites like: eBay, Amazon and Overstock were said to have everything a shopper could want. Despite the convenience of never having to leave your home, internet shopping sucks! It is such a hassle; you could start to hurt your eyes from looking at the screen for an hour or more, you never know if your account information is truly safe, and you are always at risk of receiving the wrong item or getting your shipment late! Not my idea of a fulfilling day of shopping I must say. But I guess with anything there are pros and cons, even for internet shopping they are as follows:

Pros:
1) The luxury of never having to leave your home
2) Variety is more diverse since the market is global and not local
3) Items are more generally lower priced due to the high percentage of auctions and discount sites
4) The stores are never closed
5) Products can be found that are not available locally

Cons:
1) Items ordered online are often on backorder but the consumer may not be informed until weeks after they make the purchase.
2) Shipping costs
3) False advertising, the person selling the item could hide it up just to sale it but in actuality its everything but it description
4) Refunds may not always be accessible
5) The risk of identity thrift

There are indeed some considerable pros to shopping online, but I stand on the fact there is nothing like being in the actual store. For me, shopping online gets to be overwhelming, there is no one to seek counsel from when you’re confused. There is also the fact that you are completely left at the mercies of the World-wide web. There is more to shopping than what meets the eye. It holds a certain nostalgic essence, a tangible surety that cannot be easily replaced by a computer screen filled with over stock items.


sources: Photo by Jose Miguel Martinez 2010