190 THE ROI OF HUMAN CAPITAL
interdependent. Actions at one level drive activities and out-
comes at the others. Businesses are complex and dynamic
environments. The wealth of data generated by business ac-
tivity can be overwhelming. We must learn how to identify
the factors and forces that make a difference.
Take care not to fall prey to the natural desire to draw
correlations where they do not exist. Data from one activity
may be moving in parallel with those of another. However,
this may be more coincidence than correlation. It very sel-
dom shows causation. Isolated, one-time events are rarely
generalizable to a different population or situation. It is use-
ful to understand the intention behind the publication and
the context behind the data. Is ...