Discussion: View Thread

A while back I posted the following message to another list:

> Those of us who make our living trying to improve matters
> on the human side of enterprise are familiar with and make
> use of the word "feedback" on a regular basis. Unfortunately,
> that word is all too often misused and what passes for feedback
> is not feedback at all. Some years back I wrote and published a
> paper in which I elaborated upon the differences between the
> technical meaning of "feedback" and the ways in which that term
> has come to be used in the social and behavioral sciences as well
> as in the ordinary practice of management. That paper, "Feedback
> About Feedback," is this month's featured article on my web site.
> Simply go to my home page(www.nickols.us) and click on the link
> to the paper.

Jay Warner, a member of this list, contacted me and indicated that there
ought to be a "serious discussion" of the misuse and underlying lack of
understanding of important concepts such as feedback and others. (One of my
favorites is the easy and erroneous way in which most people seem to equate
punishment with negative reinforcement.)

In any event, I replied to Jay and indicated the only list I knew of where
such a "serious conversation" might take place is this one. He agreed. So,
I thought I'd see if I could get the ball rolling. Perhaps Jay will be so
kind as to chime in and offer an example or two of the kinds of concepts and
notions he's seen surface in a distorted way.

And, for those who are interested, the "Feedback about Feedback" article I
mentioned in my post to the other list is no longer the featured article on
my home page but it's still available on my articles web site. You can find
it at the following link:

http://home.att.net/~OPSINC/feedback.pdf


Regards,

Fred Nickols
"Assistance at A Distance"
nickols@att.net
www.nickols.us

"Constructive Criticism is an Oxymoron"

From: Chris Barlow chrisbarlow@cocreativity.com

Fred--

I'll try to read your stuff over because I am convinced of the problem.

But I think a big part is that the terms that emerged historically in
different contexts (radio engineering and behaviorist psychology) to
have opposite meanings are confusing to real people trying to comprehend
and use the concepts.

Instead of complaining about the people, maybe we should let go of the
obsession of historical correctness in terminology, an obsession that I
must confess that I share, but realize is dysfunctional for managers.

Christopher M. Barlow, PhD
The Co-Creativity Institute
551 Roosevelt Road #112
Glen Ellyn, Illinois 60137
Voice: (630) 221-9456
Fax: (630) 221-9454
mailto://barlow@cocreativity.com
http://www.cocreativity.com

Chris Barlow writes:

> Fred--
>
> I'll try to read your stuff over because I am convinced of the problem.
>
> But I think a big part is that the terms that emerged historically in
> different contexts (radio engineering and behaviorist psychology) to
> have opposite meanings are confusing to real people trying to comprehend
> and use the concepts.

I've often wondered about that. My recollections are that the term
"emerged" from systems theory and the engineers remained true to the
original concept and the behavioral scientists distorted it.
>
> Instead of complaining about the people, maybe we should let go of the
> obsession of historical correctness in terminology, an obsession that I
> must confess that I share, but realize is dysfunctional for managers.

Oh, I quite agree that terminological exactitude can be as dysfunctional as
terminological inexactitude and I don't think I've ever corrected a manager
or colleague about the incorrect use of terms (except when blatant and
dysfunctional itself). My focus on the misuse of "feedback" ties more to
the behavioral sciences than to managers but there are other examples as
well. More to the point, perhaps, it's not so much the misuse of the terms
that bothers me as it is the obvious loss of the power of a correct grasp of
the term and its implications.

If "feedback" were correctly and clearly understood that understanding would
change the way we approach performance management for one thing. And it
would most definitely alter what we currently do and how we do it when we
say to some other person, "Let me give you some feedback."

Another example is "negative reinforcement." Many, if not most people, and
more behavioral scientists than I care to count, equate it with punishment.
It's not punishment at all; it's the removal of a noxious stimulus. Were
people to grasp that correctly, perhaps they'd spend more time trying to be
of help to people by eliminating roadblocks and obstacles instead of
cracking the whip.

Ah, but I ramble. If you do get around to reading "Feedback about
Feedback," I'd enjoy reading your comments.

Fred Nickols
nickols@att.net
www.nickols.us