Qualitative properties
Encyclopedia
Qualitative properties are properties that are observed and can generally not be measured with a numerical result. They are contrasted to quantitative
Quantitative property
A quantitative property is one that exists in a range of magnitudes, and can therefore be measured with a number. Measurements of any particular quantitative property are expressed as a specific quantity, referred to as a unit, multiplied by a number. Examples of physical quantities are distance,...

 properties which have numerical characteristics.

Some engineering and scientific properties are qualitative. A test method
Test method
A test method is a definitive procedure that produces a test result.A test can be considered as technical operation that consists of determination of one or more characteristics of a given product, process or service according to a specified procedure. Often a test is part of an experiment.The test...

 can result in qualitative data about something. This can be a pass/fail, conform/non-conform, or categorical result. It can sometimes be an engineering judgement.

Qualitative properties in businesses

Some important qualitative properties that concerns businesses are:

Human factors
Human factors
Human factors science or human factors technologies is a multidisciplinary field incorporating contributions from psychology, engineering, industrial design, statistics, operations research and anthropometry...

, 'human work capital' is probably one of the most important issues that deals with qualitative properties. Some common aspects are: happiness
Happiness
Happiness is a mental state of well-being characterized by positive emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. A variety of biological, psychological, religious, and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources....

, attitude
Attitude (psychology)
An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for something. Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event— this is often referred to as the attitude object...

 towards work, motivation
Motivation
Motivation is the driving force by which humans achieve their goals. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. The term is generally used for humans but it can also be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well. This article refers to human motivation...

, general participation etc. Although all of these aspects are not measurable in terms of quantitative criteria, the general overview of them could be reviewed quantitative
Quantitative property
A quantitative property is one that exists in a range of magnitudes, and can therefore be measured with a number. Measurements of any particular quantitative property are expressed as a specific quantity, referred to as a unit, multiplied by a number. Examples of physical quantities are distance,...

.

Environmental issues, since the time of the 80's a growing aspect for businesses. Although a lot of these aspects are regulated by law (and this is increasing) and quantitatively measurable, there are properties that are qualitative e.g.: environmental friendly production
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...

, responsibility for the entire life of a product (from the raw-material till scrap), attitude towards safe/efficient/minimum waste production and acting in order to achieve this.

Ethic issues closely related to environmental and human issues. Things like child-labour, illegal dumping of waste etc. Are considered under the name of ethic issues. These topics are for more formal aspects covered in the corporate governance
Corporate governance
Corporate governance is a number of processes, customs, policies, laws, and institutions which have impact on the way a company is controlled...

.

The way a company deals with its stockholders (the 'acting' of a company) is probably the most obvious qualitative aspect that people generally deal with. Although behaviour of something measuring in qualitative terms is difficult, most people can (and will) make a judgement about the behaviour on the base how they (feel) treated. This indicates that qualitative properties are closely related to 'the way how things feel or be felt', emotional impressions prevail ratio
Ratio
In mathematics, a ratio is a relationship between two numbers of the same kind , usually expressed as "a to b" or a:b, sometimes expressed arithmetically as a dimensionless quotient of the two which explicitly indicates how many times the first number contains the second In mathematics, a ratio is...

.
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