„‚ CONDITIONS THAT HINDER EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Soft Data
Most soft data are subjective and difficult to define, collect, and analyze. Examples of
soft data are work habits, work climate, feelings, and attitudes.
Other sources of soft, or qualitative data, are observations, discussions, interviews,
and various types of job-related documents or records, like job descriptions and
performance appraisals (Marshall & Rossman, 1989; Patton, 1990). Soft data are
gaining recognition as a major source of valuable information (Smith, 1995a).
Hard Data
Quantitative data, or hard data, represent measurements often based on output, like the
number of units produced and the time, costs, and quality involved (Phillips, 1983) or
the number of customers served in a specific period of time.
Quantitative and qualitative data used to measure or assess the same variables can
be compared to determine reliability. It is extremely important to determine the
reliability and validity of data sources. Reliability is a measure of consistency
throughout a series of measurements, observations, or repeated activities. Validity
represents how closely a measuring instrument indicates or measures what it is supposed
to measure. Validity is discussed in detail in a following section.
Product-Based and Service-Based Areas
The line that formerly separated products from services is growing fainter. Often
products come with a built-in service, like a laptop computer with software already
installed.
Products
A product is defined as “...a transformation of energy and matter into a presumably
desirable form, at desirable locations, and at an appropriate time” (Schwartz, 1992).
Most products are the tangible results of some manufacturing or materials-processing
industry. Products and their attributes and deficiencies, like defects, deviations, and
cycle time, can be measured and documented in numeric terms (Smith, 1995a).
Services
A definition of services includes all those economic activities in which the primary goal
is neither a product nor a construction (Quinn & Gagnon, 1986). A service is also an
intangible performance that customers interpret in different ways. The quality and value
are judged, for example, by courtesy, speed, and competence (Smith, 1995a).
Although 70 to 75 percent of the gross national product of the United States is spent
on services, many measurement and evaluation systems are based on products. Most
service industries provide intangibles, like advice (legal and financial) and opportunity
(education). It is very difficult, if not impossible, to define “advice” and “opportunity”
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The Pfeiffer Library Volume 6, 2nd Edition. Copyright ©1998 Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer