All You Need to Know About Consistency

The term consistency is used in different ways depending on the context. The concept can refer to the coherence that exists between the elements or pieces that are part of a set.

A material is said to have consistency when it is solid or stable. For example: “If we want to give the dough more consistency, we must add another cup of flour”, “The dessert lacks consistency due to high temperatures”, “With such an amount of water, the concrete will never reach the necessary consistency”.

The idea of consistency can also be used with reference to a symbolic solidity : “The team played with great consistency and did not give the rival opportunities”, “I trust that the consistency of the national economy will allow us to withstand the turbulence caused by the world crisis “, ” The relationship began to lose consistency when the man, for work reasons, began to spend several days a week in a city located more than two hundred kilometers from his home. “

If we look at the business world, the image that a company gives is expected to be consistent over the years to prevent the public from losing confidence in it. Maintaining consistency in the market is not easy, as it involves facing a series of obstacles and overcoming several challenges, such as the following:

* Companies are usually made up of tens or hundreds of people, if not more, and this makes it almost impossible to maintain a single line of thought and action. Since there are so many opinions that are considered before making each decision, it is normal to notice stages in which their objectives or even their principles seem to have changed;

* As if the number of people who participate in the decision-making of a company does not cause enough difficulty to the consistency of its image, the change of personnel is added, either due to natural reasons (retirement or death), resignations or layoffs. When a new president takes office, for example, he can change the course of the entire entity if he has the support of the majority;

* Technological advances and new market trends are putting considerable pressure on companies, and many of them do not choose the most appropriate strategies to adapt to these demands. This has led to numerous failures due to the distortion of their identity and their consequent loss of loyalty from consumers.

Consistency inspires confidence, and this is true for the people we deal with on a daily basis, as well as for government leaders and large companies. We need to believe in others and in their promises to live in society: in the seriousness of public transport companies, in the commitment our employers make to pay us every month, in the security guarantee provided by the police force and in the principles that define the companies that manufacture our favorite products. If they change their ideals, we notice an inconsistency that generates fear.

In the field of research and statistics, we speak of internal consistency to mention the correlation that exists between the different components of the same work or test. Suppose that, in a survey, a person agrees with the following statements: “I love listening to music” and “When I travel I always listen to music. ” Instead, he disagrees with the statement “Music bores me. ” The correlation between the responses reveals that the survey has good internal consistency. On the contrary, if someone affirmatively marks the expressions “I love listening to music” and “Music bores me”, the survey lacks internal consistency as the responses are contradictory.