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.