„‚ CONDITIONS THAT HINDER EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

1. No number or array of numbers can capture the essence of a human being.
People do not experience numbers, but we do use numbers to abstract some
principles or frequencies from what we see. The complexity of the individual
human being far exceeds our ability to describe human traits, their
interrelationships, or their patterns of interaction with the environment.
2. It is possible and desirable to conceptualize experience both numerically and
nonnumerically. The traditional notion held by many psychometricians is that “If
a thing exists, it exists in some amount. If you have not measured it, you do not
know what you are talking about.”
In human relations, we are concerned with what could be termed “soft” variables,
that is, those characteristics and interactions of human beings that cannot be described
very precisely. For example, we often talk about such concepts as trust, openness, selfactualization,
interdependence—concepts that are neither precisely defined nor
accurately measured. While it is useful to posit these human characteristics in order to
improve the ways in which people relate to one another, it is important for us to
recognize that the attempts that have been made represent the crudest form of
measurement. To say, for example, that a person who scores 8 on a 9-point synergy
scale has an unusually high ability to see “the opposites of life as meaningfully related”
is as indefensible as to say that unless we have mapped that characteristic of that person,
we cannot discuss it with any usefulness.
3. Numbers do not have meaning; only people experience meaning. There are no
inherent values in numbers. We impute, or assign, to these symbols meanings
that may be idiosyncratic. Just as words are symbols, numbers are symbols used
to simplify, arrange, and collect our experience. When we use them in
communication, we have many of the same problems we have in using other
symbols, such as words. People do not attach the same meanings to the same
symbols, though we often assume that they do (Jones, 1972).
4. There is no such thing as objectivity. Far enough behind any set of numbers will
be the subjective impressions, feelings, attitudes, theories, hunches, and
assumptions of one or more human beings. It is self-deceiving to imagine that
one can be objective in relation to oneself, other people, or even the physical
universe. “Scientific” observations are inevitably clouded by our abilities to
conceptualize experience and observations. In human relations it is important to
accept that we are first, last, and always subjective. Thus, we need to accept
responsibility for our biases, prejudices, and favorite ways of looking at the
world.
5. The most difficult number problem is counting. A great many people experience
anxiety with regard to numbers, arithmetic, and especially statistics. Many
people are awed by the complexity of mathematical operations. It is almost as
though these number systems had a reality to be discovered and mastered. The
application of numerical processes, however, cannot be more useful than the
The Pfeiffer Library Volume 6, 2nd Edition. Copyright © 1998 Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer ❚❘ 19