Culture and Context:
Evidence-based management
By Susan Miller
Published on June 16, 2006 - 03:54 AM
There’s a good article at the Stanford Graduate School of Business on evidence-based management. Act on Facts, Not Faith: How management can follow medicine’s lead and rely on evidence, not on half-truths shows how managers often make decisions based on gut feeling, on what worked elsewhere or before or on what the latest management book advises – in short on everything but facts. Like evidence-based medicine, the authors say, “evidence-based management can help managers figure out what works and what doesn’t, identify the dangerous half-truths that constitute so much of what passes for wisdom, and reject the total nonsense that too often passes for sound advice.â€
The piece is filled with good anecdotes, but here’s the one that illustrates the point:
A student of ours who worked at Netscape told us that James Barksdale, a former CEO of that company, once remarked at a company meeting something to this effect: “If the decision is going to be made by the facts, anyone’s facts, as long as they are relevant, are equal. If the decision is going to be made on the basis of people’s opinions, then mine [he was the CEO at the time] count
for a lot more.â€
In a nutshell, here’s the advice the authors have for managers who want to practice evidence-based management:
1. Demand the facts. Sometimes the kind of evidence you need to make informed decisions doesn’t even exit. Do your own research and make sure “everyone in the organization is equally committed both to getting and to using the best facts.â€
2. Beware of your preconceived ideas. People often ignore evidence when it runs contrary to their own theories. Plus, sometimes preconceived notions only generate the kind of evidence that supports those notions.
3. Rethink your assumptions. Sometimes just reconsidering the assumptions that decisions are based on is worth the insights you can gain from empirical research. Is the idea, for example, that people will work harder for more money really a valid assumption?
4. Avoid casual benchmarking. The problem with benchmarking comes when managers use it casually, paying too little attention to what works, why it works, and whether it will work elsewhere.
5. Know when the past has passed. Just because something worked before doesn’t mean it will work in a new situation – especially if the new task involves different kinds of people or a different emphasis on mission. What worked at DOD might not work at the National Endowment for the Arts.
6. Adopt an attitude of wisdom. Wisdom requires asking for help and asking questions, as well as giving help and answering questions.
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