„‚ CONDITIONS THAT HINDER EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

without this prior acceptance, but in the hope that the information will itself be
persuasive, is doomed to failure for the same reason mentioned in the earlier stockmarket
illustration: The input will be meaningless and therefore rejected. Where the
principles and concepts contained in the model and operationalized in the survey are not
understood or accepted in advance, the leader, change agent, or facilitator is well
advised to proceed no further until, by training or planned experience, he or she has
implanted that understanding and acceptance.
THE CHARACTER AND QUALITY OF DATA FOR SURVEY
FEEDBACK
Understanding the causal sequences—let alone measuring them—involves us in an
immediate paradox. If we say, for example, that A causes B, we have to assume two
mutually contradictory things: that both A and B occurred at exactly the same point in
time (as no event can be caused by something that it is not in contact with), and that A
must have preceded B (as a cause must occur before its effect). In everyday life, we
solve this problem by storing large numbers of connected A-to-B events and looking at
them for some period of time.
The same practice holds true for the survey. Questionnaire respondents, in
describing their leader’s behavior, the behavior of their fellow members, or the
conditions present in the larger organization, summarize a large number of specific acts
and events, some of which have caused others. The picture that results in the tabulated
data, although taken at one point in time, is a composite photograph of the person,
group, and/or organization as it has persisted over some period of weeks or months. By
the changes observed in the picture from one administration and feedback to the next,
movement is depicted in much the same way as in a motion picture.
Accuracy of the Picture
The accuracy of the resulting picture depends on the care that goes into those several
aspects of the process and on the instrument that reflects their design: the accuracy and
adequacy of the body of principles and concepts on which both the model and the
instrument have been built (are they the result of rigorous research, or of armchair
extractions from experience?); the reliability and validity of the questionnaire instrument
and its measures (does it measure dependably and accurately what it purports to
measure?); and the conditions under which the data are collected (trust, confidence, care,
and clarity of procedures).
Beyond the conventional indicators of validity, the procedure employed in survey
feedback relies on the consensual validation implicit in collecting multiple perceptions
of the same events from several people. Those who view and report about the same
phenomenon should substantially agree in their perceptions and differ from other people
who perceive other events.
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The Pfeiffer Library Volume 6, 2nd Edition. Copyright ©1998 Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer