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This paper explores the intersection between principles of Information Measurement Theory (IMT) and sales techniques to identify a best value approach for sales professionals. Developed at Arizona State University and supported by numerous academic publications, IMT is a thinking paradigm that utilizes deductive logic and reasoning to understand how the world works and identify best value practices that minimize risk, decision making, and stress. One core concept of IMT is that individuals have no influence on the people around them, an idea that directly contradicts with traditional beliefs of the sales industry. The goal of this paper is to understand the qualities that make a sales professional successful from an IMT perspective, while outlining best value practices to apply in the real world. Comparison research for the sales industry was conducted by analyzing classic and modern sales literature, author participation in an industry-leading, professional sales training program, and input from sales professionals. The analysis identifies how top sales experts utilize techniques that allow them to efficiently uncover dominant information about their prospects' needs and then use that information to sell a valuable product to their customers. The analysis also outlines the common personality traits amongst well-aligned sales professionals. By adopting the practices and thinking paradigms outlined in this paper, individuals can maximize their potential in a sales career.
ContributorsFrelka, Benjamin (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
There is a disconnect between the way people are taught to find success and happiness, and the results observed. Society teaches us that success will lead to happiness. Instead, it is argued that success is engrained in happiness. Case studies of four, established, successful people: Jack Ma, Elon Musk, Ricardo Semler, and William Gore, have been conducted in order to observe an apparent pattern. This data, coupled with the data from Michael Boehringer's story, is used to formulate a solution to the proposed problem. Each case study is designed to observe characteristics of the individuals that allow them to be successful and exhibit traits of happiness. Happiness will be analyzed in terms of passion and desire to perform consistently. Someone who does what they love, paired with the ability to perform on a regular basis, is considered to be a happy person. The data indicates that there is an observable pattern within the results. From this pattern, certain traits have been highlighted and used to formulate guidelines that will aid someone falling short of success and happiness in their lives. The results indicate that there are simple questions that can guide people to a happier life. Three basic questions are defined: is it something you love, can you see yourself doing this every day and does it add value? If someone can answer yes to all three requirements, the person will be able to find happiness, with success following. These guidelines can be taken and applied to those struggling with unhappiness and failure. By creating such a formula, the youth can be taught a new way of thinking that will help to eliminate these issues, that many people are facing.
ContributorsBoehringer, Michael Alexander (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Department of Management (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
In this paper, the impact of running a Best Value system in a student-run/volunteer group is measured, documented, and analyzed. The group being used for this test is the Arizona State University Society of Automotive Engineers Formula Team. The Arizona State University Society of Automotive Engineers Formula Team has participated in national Formula SAE competitions since at least 1992, however, in the last twenty years, the team has only been able to produce one car that was able to finish the competition on time. In a similar time period, Best Value has been successfully tested on over 1860 professional projects with a 95% satisfaction rating. Using the Best Value approach to increase transparency and accountability through simple metrics and documentation, the 2016 Arizona State University Society of Automotive Engineers Formula Team was able to complete their car in 278 days. In comparison, it took 319 days for the 2015 team and 286 for the average collegiate team. This is an improvement of 13% when compared to the 2015 team and 3% when compared to the average collegiate team. With these results it can be deduced that the Best Value approach is a viable method for improving efficiency of student-run and volunteer organizations. It is the recommendation of this report that the Arizona State University Society of Automotive Engineers Formula Team continue to utilize Best Value practices and run this system again each year moving forward. This consistent documentation should result in continuous improvement in the time required to complete the car as well as its quality.
ContributorsWojtas, Thomas Samuel (Author) / Trimble, Steven (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Committee member) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This study illustrates the abilities of the honeybee, Apis mellifera, to learn and differentiate between patterns solely off their spatial frequencies. Patterns were chosen based off of calculations derived from the measurements of the physical construction of the apposition compound eye, which led to predictions of what the bees could theoretically see. The hypothesis was then that bees would have a visual threshold where patterns with spatial frequencies that fall below this line should be easily distinguishable, and patterns above the threshold would have scores that mimic if the bees made choices randomly. There were 9 patterns tested, all with different spatial frequencies and in the colors of black, white, and gray. The bees were tested on their learning and pattern differentiation abilities with 10 pattern comparisons, with the lower frequency of the two being associated with an unscented sucrose solution reward. The results were surprising in that the previous studies pointing towards this visual threshold were inaccurate because of some of the patterns being learning in an intermediate ability. These intermediate scores suggest that the calculations predicting what the bees could see clearly were slightly wrong because it was more likely that the bees saw those images in more of a blur, which resulted in their intermediate score. Honeybees have served as a useful model organisms over the decades with studying learning involving visual information. This study lacked in its total numbers of trials and bees tested, which could have led to incomplete results, and this showing of an intermediate score and ability. Future studies should continue in order to advance this understanding of a perceptually and cognitively advance processing animal.
ContributorsBalsino, Brandon Bartholomew (Author) / Harrison, Jon (Thesis director) / Smith, Brian (Committee member) / Duell, Meghan (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description
The two authors completed the entirety of their schooling within the United States, from preschool to university. Both authors experienced loss of interest towards their education each successive year and assumed the nature of learning and education was to blame. The two students took a class on the Kashiwagi Information Measurement Theory their second years at Arizona State University and applied the concepts taught in that class to past experiences in the United States education system to determine the cause behind their waning interest in their education. Using KSM principles the authors identified that the environment produced by and ineffectual and inefficient educational system is what resulted in their, and the majority of their peers, growing dissatisfaction in their education. A negative correlation was found between GPA and control. As the control in a students environment increased, their GPA decreased. The data collected in this thesis also supports the conclusions that as a student is exposed to a high stress environment, their GPA and average amount of sleep per night decrease.
ContributorsKulanathan, Shivaan (Co-author) / Westlake, Kyle (Co-author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Gunnoe, Jake (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The deductive logic and leadership techniques presented in Dr. Dean Kashiwagi's Information Measurement Theory (IMT) and the Kashiwagi Solution Model (KSM) provide the tools to implement positive change within one's life and environment. By altering the way that I perceive the world, I have made progress in self-improvement through action. This project utilizes self-evaluation as a method to learn from dominant information and experience. In establishing that natural laws govern the world, there is no randomness; events and decisions are all cause-and-effect. When seen through this lens, life becomes simpler and manageable. Through my own implementation of IMT and KSM, I live a more productive lifestyle and feel that I have a meaningful plan for my future.
ContributorsRoot, Shawn Michael (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Industrial, Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
DescriptionThis creative project provides documentation and an exploration of my interactions with individuals encountered while hitchhiking up the west coast.
ContributorsGerber, Evan Howard (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Education is a very sensitive topic when it comes to implementing the right policies. From professionals well-versed in the topic, to the very students who are being taught, feedback for reform is constantly being addressed. Nonetheless, there remains a large gap between the performance of some of the most advanced countries in the world and the United States of America. As it stands today, USA is arguably the most technologically advanced country and the outright leader of the free market. For over a century this nation has been exceeding expectations in nearly every industry known to man and aiding the rest of the world in their endeavors for a higher standard of living. Yet, there seems to be something critically wrong with the way a large majority of the younger generation are growing up. How can a country so respected in the world fall so far behind in what is considered the basics of human education: math and science? The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is a series of assessments taken by countries all around the world to determine the strength of their youth's knowledge. Since its inception in 1995, TIMSS has been conducted every four years with an increasing number of participating countries and students each time. In 1999 U.S. eighth-graders placed #19 in the world for mathematics and #18 for science (Appendix Fig. 1). In the years following, and further detailed in the thesis, the U.S. managed to improve the overall performance by a small margin but still remained a leg behind countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Russia, and more. Clearly these countries were doing something right as they consistently managed to rank in the top tier. Over the course of this paper we will observe and analyze why and how Singapore has topped the TIMSS list for both math and science nearly every time it has been administered over the last two decades. What is it that they are teaching their youth that enables them to perform exceptionally above the norm? Why is it that we cannot use their techniques as a guideline to increase the capabilities of our future generations? We look to uncover the teaching methods of what is known as Singapore Math and how it has helped students all over the world. By researching current U.S. schools that have already implemented the system and learning about their success stories, we hope to not only educate but also persuade the local school districts on why integrating Singapore Math into their curriculum will lead to the betterment of the lives of thousands of children and the educational threshold of this great nation.
ContributorsKichloo, Parth (Co-author) / Leverenz, Michael (Co-author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Rivera, Alfredo (Committee member) / Department of Management (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The story of Moneyball is an informative tale. It is the true story of the Oakland Athletics baseball team in the 2002 season who managed to not only compete with teams who had nearly three times the payroll size and all the star players, but also won an American League record 20 games in a row. Their manager, Billy Beane, was able to achieve this by using sabermetrics, a newly invented term that describes the advanced statistics and metrics used to judge a player's contribution to the success of the team over traditional statistics and gut feeling, to draft and trade for undervalued players to create a competitive team under his small-market budget. This story is well known as a best-selling novel by Michael Lewis and later a film by the same name. Clearly it was successful in the field of baseball, but can it be used in other business industries? The idea of sabermetrics, or finding more information to predict the future of a player is very similar to the ideas of Information Measurement Theory (IMT) as theorized by Dr. Dean Kashiwagi, a professor at Arizona State University. The goal of this paper is to use Moneyball as a narrative to show how applying the concepts of IMT to businesses could allow them to better predict their performance and the future of their industry. Moreover, these same ideas can predict if the leadership of the company will be successful by analyzing their personal characteristics. This paper will act as a guide for businesses to start following the concepts of IMT and to better analyze themselves and their industry to increase performance and reduce stressful decision-making.
ContributorsKent, Austin (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Selenium, a group 16 metalloid on the periodic table, is a necessary mineral for many organisms. Trace amounts of selenium are essential for normal development, antioxidant protein function, enzyme function, and hormone regulation (Burden et al., 2016). However, when selenium is found in toxic amounts in organisms, it has been found to substitute for sulfur in proteins, which can be toxic to these animals, and cause oxidative stress (Quinn et al., 2007). Using the previous research done with acute exposure to organic and inorganic selenium compounds, we hypothesized that the inorganic sodium selenate would significantly decrease learning and memory recall for both chronic and acute exposure. We also hypothesized that the consumption of organic methylseleno-L-cysteine by honey bees would decrease learning and memory recall for both the chronic and acute exposure. We further hypothesized that protein carbonyl content would be increased due to oxidative damage caused by selenium in both the sodium selenate and the methylseleno-L-cysteine treatment groups, but that the inorganic selenium compound would increase the carbonyl content more than the methylseleno-L-cysteine. To run the experiments, three tents outside had two colonies in each tent. One tent contained the sodium selenate group, another had the sucrose control, and one contained the methylseleno-L-cysteine group. The treatment groups were fed selenium in their sucrose feeders. The first part of the experiment was training the bees by using proboscis extension response (PER) to teach them to extend their proboscis to the rewarded odor and not to the unrewarded odor. This was done by pairing the rewarded odor with a sucrose reward and not pairing it with the unrewarded odor. Then their short-term and long-term memory recall was tested. The second part of the experiment was checking for oxidative damage by measuring the protein carbonyl content in the bees. Three boxes were set up with the same three treatment groups as used in the tents. The treatment group bees were exposed to selenium in the sucrose feeders and in the pollen patties. After one week, the living bees were removed and frozen. They were then homogenized to extract protein. The first assay run was the protein content assay to establish a standard protein concentration for samples. Then a protein carbonyl assay was run, to determine the protein carbonyl content. Overall, the experiment found that exposure to selenium negatively impacted honey bees learning and memory recall significantly. Chronic exposure to the inorganic selenate reduced the bees' long-term memory abilities to differentiate between odors. With methylseleno-L-cysteine, it had no significant effect for the chronic exposure, but for the acute exposure, it had a significant impairment on their abilities to distinguish between the rewarded and unrewarded odors during conditioning. Our results showed that from our experiment there appeared to be no significant effect of selenium exposure on the increase of carbonylation content in the different treatment groups. This is most likely due to the fact the carbonyl content was not detectable because the protein concentration was low in the samples (approximately 3.5 mg/mL).
ContributorsWinski, Alexandra (Co-author) / Winski, Brandon (Co-author) / Smith, Brian (Thesis director) / Harrison, Jon (Committee member) / Burden, Christina (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05