Reviews:
“Evidence-Based Management
is another way of saying ‘we deal in facts, in reality’. The differentiating
factor in Google’s people strategy was that we relied on evidence-based
management to separate what we ‘hoped would be true’ from reality. This superb
book gives you the tools to build your own roadmap to excellence.”
— Laszlo Bock, CEO of Humu and
former SVP of People Operations at Google/Alphabet
“Evidence-Based Management
seeks to improve the decision making lessons taught in our business schools as
well as the decision frameworks business managers and leaders use routinely. If
Enron’s board, its risk management department, its accounting, finance and legal
teams had adopted the principles and practices described in this book, Enron
would be alive and well today.”
— Sherron Watkins, Enron
Whistleblower, Time Person of the Year 2002
“As we leave the age of intuition
and enter the era of evidence, leaders need a guide for data-driven
decision-making. This book is that guide: an accessible, immediately actionable
manual from some of the great pioneers of evidence-based management.”
— Adam Grant, New York Times
bestselling author of Give and Take, Originals, and Option B with Sheryl
Sandberg
“Evidence-Based Management
addresses a vital need. By lucidly conveying the perspectives of both
researchers and practitioners, it should help each community to do its job,
protect each from simplistic accounts of one another’s work, and facilitate
collaboration between them.”
— Baruch Fischhoff, Howard
Heinz University Professor, Department of Engineering and Public Policy and
Institute for Politics and Strategy, Carnegie Mellon University
Description:
Decisions in businesses and
organizations are too often based on fads, fashions and the success stories of
famous CEOs. At the same time, traditional models and new cutting-edge
solutions often fail to deliver on what they promise. This situation leaves
managers, business leaders, consultants and policymakers with a profound
challenge: how can we stay away from trends and quick fixes, and instead use
valid and reliable evidence to support the organization?
In response to this problem,
evidence-based management has evolved with the goal of improving the quality of
decision-making by using critically evaluated evidence from multiple sources -
organizational data, professional expertise, stakeholder values and scientific
literature. This book sets out and explains the specific skills needed to
gather, understand and use evidence to make better-informed organizational
decisions.
Evidence-Based Management is a comprehensive guide that provides current and future
managers, consultants and organizational leaders with the knowledge and
practical skills to improve the quality and outcome of their decision-making.
Online resources include case studies, exercises, lecture slides and further
reading.
Contents:
About the authors
Contributors
Foreword
Preface
How to read (and use) this book
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1. Evidence-based
management: the basic principles (with Rob Briner) • What is evidence-based management? • What counts as evidence? •
Why do we need evidence-based management? • What sources of evidence should be
considered? • Why do we have to critically appraise evidence? • Why focus on
the ‘best available’ evidence? • Some common misconceptions of evidence-based
management • What is the evidence for evidence-based management?
Chapter 2. ASK: Critical
questions about assumed problems and preferred solutions • Identifying underlying assumptions • Starting point: What is
the problem to solve or opportunity to address? • PICOC • Step 1: What is the
assumed problem to be solved? • Step 2: What is the evidence for the problem? •
Step 3: What is the preferred solution? • Step 4: What is the evidence for the
preferred solution? • Developing your capacity to ask questions • Checklists
Part One: Evidence from Practitioners
Chapter 3. ACQUIRE: Evidence from
practitioners • What to ask? • Whom to ask? •
How many practitioners should I ask? • How to ask? • Developing questions •
Eight tips for asking valid and effective questions
Chapter 4. APPRAISE: Evidence
from practitioners • How to tell whether a
practitioner has professional expertise • Why is it so hard to develop valid
and reliable professional expertise? • Two modes of thinking • Cognitive biases
• Avoiding or reducing bias • Critical appraisal of evidence from practitioners
• Checklist
Part Two: Evidence from the Scientific Literature
Chapter 5. A short introduction
to science (with Rob Briner) • What is science? •
Science is not about ‘truth’ or ‘proof’ • Limitation 1: Coincidence •
Limitation 2: Methodological Bias • Limitation 3: Confounders • Limitation 4:
The placebo effect • Limitation 5: Moderators and mediators • Qualitative
versus quantitative research • Research designs • How to read a research
article
Chapter 6. ACQUIRE: Evidence from
the scientific literature • The scientific literature
• Determining your search terms • Searching in research databases: Some basic
search techniques • Pre-testing your search terms • Searching for empirical
studies: Systematic, transparent and reproducible • Finally, some tips
Chapter 7. APPRAISE: Evidence
from the scientific literature (with Rob Briner) • Critical appraisal: Three preliminary questions • Critical
appraisal: Methodological appropriateness • Methodological appropriateness:
Cause-and-effect studies • Methodological appropriateness: Non-effect studies •
Critical appraisal: Methodological quality • Finally: The ‘best available’
evidence • Overview of the appraisal process • Checklists
Part Three: Evidence from the Organization
Chapter 8. ACQUIRE: Evidence from
the organization (with Martin Walker) • Why is
evidence from the organization important? • From data to information and
evidence • What questions to ask? • What types of organizational evidence are
typically available? • Big data • Where to find organizational evidence •
Techniques and tools for acquiring data • Organizational data turned into
information • Other considerations when acquiring data
Chapter 9. APPRAISE: Evidence
from the organization (with Martin Walker) • Barrier
1: Absence of a logic model • Barrier 2: Irrelevant data • Barrier 3:
Inaccurate data • Barrier 4: Missing contextual information • Barrier 5:
Measurement error • Barrier 6: The small number problem • Barrier 7: Confusing
percentages and averages • Barrier 8: Misleading graphs • Barrier 9:
Correlations and regressions – overfitting the data • Barrier 10: Wide
confidence intervals • Artificial intelligence, machine learning and artificial
neural networks • Organizational evidence: quality versus purpose • Checklist
Part Four: Evidence from Stakeholders
Chapter 10. ACQUIRE: Evidence
from stakeholders • Not all evidence from
stakeholders is stakeholder evidence • Types of stakeholder • Who are the most
relevant stakeholders? • Whom to ask? • What to ask? • How to ask?
Chapter 11. APPRAISE: Evidence
from stakeholders • The importance of subjective
feelings and perceptions • What is the impact of the decision? •
Representativeness • How representative is my sample? • Checklist
Chapter 12. AGGREGATE: Weighing
and pulling together the evidence •
Evidence-based management is about probabilities • Bayes’ Rule • The prior
probability • The likelihood of the evidence • Updating the posterior probability
when new evidence becomes available • Using Bayes’ Rule to aggregate evidence
from different sources • Bayesian thinking
Chapter 13. APPLY: Incorporating
the evidence into the decision-making process (with Alessandra Capezio) • Does the evidence apply? • What is the expected value? • Is it
the biggest bang for your buck? • Is the level of risk acceptable? • Are there
ethical issues to consider? • Is the evidence actionable? • Are there
moderators that you need to take into account? • How and in what form can you
apply the evidence? • Dissemination, implementation and change
Chapter 14. ASSESS: Evaluate the
outcome of the decision taken • Types of
decisions • Assessing the outcome: Two preliminary questions • Assess: The gold
standard • Assess: The silver standard • Outcome measures • Assessing
stakeholder effects • Keep it simple!
Chapter 15. Building the capacity
for evidence-based management • Becoming an
evidence-based manager • Building evidence-based capacity among bosses and
peers • Building evidence-based capacity in your organization • Some final
words
Chapter 16. Guidelines for
critically appraised topics • Step 1: Background - What
is the context of the CAT question? • Step 2: Formulating the CAT question -
What does the CAT answer? • Step 3: PICOC • Step 4: Inclusion criteria - Which
studies will be considered? • Step 5: Search strategy - How should the studies
be sought? • Step 6: Study selection - How should you test the studies? • Step
7: Data extraction - What information should you extract • Step 8: Critical
appraisal - How should the quality of the studies be judged? • Step 9: Result -
What did you find? • Step 10: Conclusion • Step 11: Limitations • Step 12:
Implications and recommendations • Checklist
Glossary
Index
About the Authors:
Eric Barends is Managing Director of the Center for Evidence-Based Management
and advises management teams and boards of directors on evidence-based
management and decision-making. He is also a visiting lecturer at New York
University, Australian National University and VU University Amsterdam.
Denise M Rousseau is the H J Heinz II University Professor of Organizational
Behavior and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College and
Tepper School of Business. She was formerly the President of the Academy of
Management and is an adviser to numerous social enterprises, professional
associations, and governmental and for-profit organizations.
Target Audience:
Useful for students and
academicians of management. Also for current and future managers, consultants
and organizational leaders who wish to
improve the quality and outcome of their decision-making.