From Marc S. Abrams [083195.2000]
Hi Folks. I've been doing ALOT of thinking and pondering the last several
months about the CSG conference and the current work I am doing (some Business
process engineering). I think I have come up with the DEFINITIVE PCT
application. It can be used in ANY endeavor. The concept begins with the
notion of SERVICE. We ALL are in the business of providing SOMETHING to
SOMEONE else. Our ability to deliver that service depends on how well we
understand what OTHERS WANT. Understanding the nature of how WE want things
(and go about getting them) might give us some insights into how OTHERS
formulate thier wants. Isn't that what PCT is all about ? If we THINK and
UTILIZE PCT concepts in HOW we think about and deal with others then in fact
we have a PCT application. Delivering to others what THEY want within the
givin constraints of the relationship is PCT in Action.
I think we need to think about how to utilize what we ALREADY know. I am
currently working in three different areas. The coomon thread is SERVICE to
others. If anyone is interested in anyone of these areas I'd love to hear from
you.
1) Testing: Currently in NYC, children from birth to 12th grade can be
"evaluated" to see if they have "special" needs. If a child attends a Pre-K
school or daycare and the child has a "behavioral" problem the teacher can
suggest that the child be tested. If the parent consents, the child is
evaluated in 4 areas. Speech, Education, Psychological, and social. If
warranted the child could also be tested for hearing, Physical and
Occupational Therapy. The problems are multi-faceted and complex. The teats
used for the education and Psychological tests are a combination of some of
the WORST mathematics (they use ordinal numbers, i.e. ranking, to get averages
and are used for correlation work), some of the WORST use of statistics ( have
you read P. Runkels book _Casting Nets..._ ) And some of the WORST Psychology
( Standardized tests that measure the "g" score. No one but NO ONE knows what
any particular item in the test is actually measuring.) Unfortunately these
"tests" cannot simply be eliminated. The Government, both State and City use
them to justify service to those in need. It turns out that about 60% of the
referrals are for "behavioral" issues. I would like to develop a "test" that
could be used for testing children 3-5 years old, that would allow EVERYONE to
understand what the child is trying to control for.
2)Sales and Marketing: I think PCT provides a MUCH needed perspective on how
we try to "sell" and "market" things to others. Pretty revolutionary stuff.
But being in sales for 20 years, MUCH NEEDED. People in this business don't
much care about "theories". The BIG question is CAN IT INCREASE MY
EFFECTIVENESS ?. I am currently working on an "OUTSTANDING" 
"sales" model.
The reason for the quote marks is that I don't believe ANYONE can "SELL"
something to someone else. A person can ONLY BUY.
3) TQM and BPR: Total Quality and Business Process REEngineering. The latest
in Corporate "innovations". Both are MISSING the behavioral element. A dear
friend of mine, and a world class TQM expert in software development, was very
much disappointed and troubled by the non use of his terrific tools, and the
general decline in interest and enthusiasm with his methods over time. I
believe PCT could play an important part in the development and use of methods
and tools used in these processes.
Looking forward to getting some feedback,
Marc