All this Big and Small Data stuff

Hannes is asking himself the same question. The 49-year-old graduate in business administration is a production manager and member of the management team of an international industrial group. He provides an insight into what is actually thought and done on the management floor. By the way: A smile is definitely allowed due to this business satire...

Correlations and probability calculations, statistics and feasibility arithmetic have replaced discussions about pros and cons. People don't just want to do anything on instinct, but everything should have a solid basis. It would be even nicer if the choice of the color of the new logo, for example, were simply made on the basis of "I like it more" or "I like it less.

Today, psychological reports are used to describe which emotions are triggered by which colors in whom and on what occasion. Data outline which of the colors are already most common among competitors who are also really successful (which can also be substantiated in itself with figures) and then you can no longer stand out.

Now the Executive Committee has decided to continue on this path, the success of which can of course also be proven by a ten-page report with about five tables each, 18 pie charts and recounted about 100 figures.

In-depth analyses for soft factors

As head of production, which is in itself predestined to make calculations, Hannes is allowed to illuminate and scrutinize the internal market. In terms of production, it has long been clear how many IT breakdowns the relevant department has to solve per day, and on which days of the week the focus is. It is also clear after which holidays the most absences due to illness are recorded. It has also long been known how long the average visit to the company canteen, smoking area and toilets lasts. The evaluation shows columns for employees, age and hierarchy groups separately.

Hannes isn't quite sure what to do with all the Big and Small Data stuff, but it's certainly good to know... Now it's all about satisfaction and the soft factors. The idea is not just to know how long the average small talk lasts while waiting by the elevators to the staff restaurant, but how satisfied waiting in front of the coffee machine has made you, watching the medium, dark or light mocha blend combine with the milk for the cappuccino.

Now people are voting for all they're worth

So Hannes begins to systematically designate places where an evaluation box should be placed immediately. The evaluation box "Votix" is a self-produced small voting apparatus on a tripod support and the popular, large buttons with the three smileys "smile", "neutral", "angry". Alternatively, there will also be a smartphone app where the same can be rated.

The process is thus described in concrete terms: Anyone who removes the coffee cup from the machine again is immediately prompted via app (or does it manually on the Votix) to rate the satisfaction of the coffee output. This is how it continues. You can vote on how clean you thought the toilets were, how competently the IT support staff solved the problem, how quickly the receptionist filled out the visitor cards, how satisfied you are with the scent of the new cleaning agent in the underground parking garage, and what you think of the start-up time for the new air conditioning system in the meeting room.

Between Votix, WhatsApp and 4.316 minutes of going to the toilet

Of course, Hannes also builds in a safety loop in the process and the corresponding control programs. Since all voting stations recognize the personnel badge, they also know who has forgotten to vote. Accordingly, this person receives a WhatsApp and an email one hour after going to the toilet with the text: "A short while ago, we had the pleasure of welcoming you to our toilets. Your visit lasted 4,316 minutes and the water consumption was average. We will be glad if you still evaluate us. Thank you, your house service".

Hannes is reassured to have achieved by relatively simple means what people have been worrying about for a long time. Are the employees really satisfied with the peripheral, internal services? Filtering out what the figures really say is a project for the next year, and what the consequences of this might be is also enough if it can still mature into the year after next. There's no need to rush things, especially with such strategically important digital concepts...

Professional conclusion

"Counting and measuring are the basis of the most fruitful, reliable and accurate scientific methods," wrote Hermann von Helmholtz in 1879. Who would have thought how right the physiologist and physicist of old would get it? At the time when Thomas A. Edison brought the first light bulb to light and the Saltpetre War was raging in South America, he anticipated what has become a mantra in companies 140 years later: Only what can be measured in numbers exists. In the wake of balanced scorecards and similar aspects, actual controller thinking has become a statement of reason. Even what is not actually measurable, such as "motivation" or "satisfaction," is squeezed into a scale.

The desire for objectivity is one thing, hiding behind numbers is another. If you deliver bad numbers, you don't have to explain to them why you don't like their efforts. You let the numbers do the talking, and that absolves the manager of today that he should articulate "himself" what he would have to give as feedback. Any kind of performance appraisal is beaten over the bar of what can be measured in numbers.

Now, neither numbers nor measuring are bad, but dealing with the measured actually leaves some room for improvement. The reference point is missing, and then you take it from next door and christen it Benchmark. "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." That's how Albert Einstein put it.

As an effect of this measurement mania, good sense of proportion is readily lost. A so-called pseudo-objectivity often serves as a cover for subjectivity and clear expectations. Protagoras' famous sentence "Man is the measure of all things" gives us the direction. He places man as interpreter before things. Every perception is dependent on perspective.

To the author:
Stefan Häseli is an expert in credible communication, keynote speaker, moderator and author of several books. As a trained actor with years of stage experience, he writes entire evening programs himself. In addition, he has engagements in feature films, TV series, TV commercials and training films. He runs a training company in Switzerland. Here is a video about his new book and the accompanying stage program:
https://vimeo.com/727264868/743d56ee23