Feedback-for Prosperity

‘...Feedback does not rely only on internal environment, but also borrows its strength from the external environment…’

Have we ever thought about the importance of ‘feedback’ in the process of development? I think the simplest thing one could do as a first step is to find out the meaning of the word, itself. During my high school years, one of my English teachers used to say, “When you are in doubt about a word, write it out and then check it in a dictionary.”
Webster’s dictionary gives the meaning of feedback as ‘...the return to the input of a part of the output of a system or process; the partial reversion of the effects of a process to its source or to a preceding stage.’
Then, if feedback is as simple and as useful as its meaning, why do we not use it as an important tool in our daily lives, above all, at the work place and in our environment?
In a “Leadership Seminar” that I was conducting for an organization quite recently, I said to the participants that feedback could be as important as our food or the water that we drink to sustain our lives; and as such, it is an important element of leadership, or, for that matter, for any system. Suddenly, before I invited the group for any comments, observations, or for further suggestions, a young man burst out, “...feedback is not only important for a system. Any system that does not recognize perpetual feedback in the process of action and interaction, be it between man and machines or in the total operational processes, is not a system at all.” What I replied to that educated and enthusiastic young man, only in a few words, was, “you have done my job well young man, thank you.”
In a conceptual model of an operations system, feedback can be easily understood if we put all inputs or resources in one basket, i.e. human, capital, land, equipment, buildings, technology and information and assume that as our point of departure, and the output in another basket, i.e., goods and services and others and assume that, conversely, as our point of destination. Between input and output, we have what we call “transformation or conversion process.”
The question that one necessarily asks at this point for understanding the concept of feedback should be rather, “are the two grids of input and output enough to say that the job is done?” Naturally, in between the two, there lies, ‘transformation or conversion process,’ as a necessary interlink. The input has to pass through it, in order to give the effect of a complete picture. Nevertheless, even with the three steps of the operational system, the “feedback box” is not yet shown. It is clear that this show that feedback comes out of the “out-put” box and goes back to the “input box” and soon-after proceeds to the “output box” again through the “conversion process” in stages of filtration.
Yet, this is not the end of it. Feedback does not rely only on internal environment, but also borrows its strength from the external environment that feeds all its information to the input grid for more filtration before it is sent back to the input grid as vital resource.
When we put this conceptual understanding in a physical environment, i.e., in production and service organizations, we soon come to learn that “feedback” is a cementing element that helps organizations to exist viably and compete freely in the open markets.
When we come to our own national development efforts or agenda of development, the argument will help to assess how much our governmental, public, business and social organizations are realizing the importance of the feedback process? Holistically speaking, I gather, it is the observation, collection, processing and implementation of corrective ideas by way of feed-back that help to fasten the pace of our country’ socio-economic transformation.
Besides, that these organizations take account of pertinent comments, observations or criticisms of the consumer/clientele society or any other information that criss-cross through the operational systems and those captured from the external environment are all about feed-back and are as important as they are urgent.
Many ideas and comments on our developmental efforts and on the system of governance or on the bureaucracy, or on our resource utilization and others as well as many innovative ideas may be forwarded by the concerned public through the different media including seminars, workshops, or personal encounter, but, how much of these information is used as additional corrective resources in the input box is only to be searched in the mind of each development leader. I think the days for deaf ears are long gone. And, I think, too, that the days of putting brilliant ideas that come through the process of feedback on the shelves should go as well.
It is my predilection, though, that it is high time that our ears were opened wide for feedback since it is an important channel of operational system which perfects and expedites the national development efforts of our country.