Evidence-based Management: Using EBMgt to make sense of intercultural management. Business 476 Intercultural Management

Evidence-based Management What is Evidence-based Management How does it fit with Intercultural Management

A Focus on EBMgt Leading scholars have promoted EBMgt as a way to help bridge the rigour-relevance gap and improve the management of organizations. –Denise M. Rousseau’s 2005 Presidential Address to the Academy of Management. –Jeffrey Pfeffer’s 2007 Keynote Address to the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. –2007 Conference Board Report, Evidence-Based Human Resources: A Primer and Summary of Current Literature.

What do we know about EBMgt? Your familiarity with… –“Evidence-based management”? –“Evidence-based HR management”? –“Evidence-based” movements in other disciplines?

Evidence-Based Medicine “the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients.” »Dr. David Sackett (McMaster University). Fairly obvious? What else would be used? –“woefully naïve” questions… Lots of medical research. –Physicians have not traditionally used much of it. Source: Pfeffer, J. & Sutton, R. I. (2006). Evidence-based management. Harvard Business Review, January, See also Rousseau, D. M. (2006). Is there such a thing as "evidence-based management"? Academy of Management Review, 31,

Evidence-Based Management Ignorance is arguably higher in management than in medicine. –“If doctors practiced medicine like many companies practice management, there would be more unnecessarily sick or dead patients and many more doctors in jail or suffering other penalties for malpractice” (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2006, p. 1). Sources: Pfeffer & Sutton (2006); Rousseau (2006)

What is EBMgt? –A “way of thinking” about organizational decisions in a systematic manner. –Being committed to doing things based on evidence. Not tradition, untested beliefs, hype, etc. –Translating the best scientific evidence into organizational practices (“Big E Evidence”). –Systematically gathering local data to inform decision-making (“little e evidence”). –Learning about human behaviour at work and using that knowledge to enhance managerial practice. Sources: Briner, R. B., Denyer, D., & Rousseau, D. M. (2009). Evidence-based management: Concept cleanup time? Academy of Management Perspectives, 23, Pfeffer, J. (2007). SIOP 2007 keynote address: Evidence-based management in industrial and organizational psychology: A celebration of accomplishments and some aspirations for the future. The Industrial- Organizational Psychologist, 45(1), Pfeffer & Sutton (2006); Rousseau (2006)

What is EBMgt? “Evidence-based management is about making decisions through the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of four sources of information: practitioner expertise and judgment, evidence from the local context, a critical evaluation of the best available research evidence, and the perspectives of those people who might be affected by the decision.” Briner, R. B., Denyer, D., & Rousseau, D. M. (2009). Evidence-Based Management: Concept Cleanup Time? Academy of Management Perspectives, 23, “Using evidence does not mean slavishly following it, acting only when there is good evidence, or doing nothing if there is none.” Briner, R. B., & Rousseau, D. M. (in press). Evidence-based I-O psychology: Not there yet. Focal article accepted for publication in Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

What EBMgt is and is not… EMBgt is…EBMgt is not… Something managers and practitioners doSomething management scholars do Something practitioners already do to some extentA brand-new way of making decisions About the practice of managementAbout conducting particular types of research A family of related approaches to decision makingA single decision-making method A way of thinking about how to make decisionsA rigid, one-size-fits all decision-making formula About using a wide range of different kinds of research evidence depending on the problem About using only certain types of research evidence irrespective of the problem Practitioners using research as only one source of information to inform decisions Scholars or researchers telling practitioners what to do A means of getting exist management research out to practitioners About conducting research only about management practice Likely to help both the process and outcome of practitioner decision-making The solution to all management problems About questioning ideas such as “best practice”About identifying and promoting “best practice” Source: Reproduced from Briner, R. B., Denyer, D., & Rousseau, D. M. (2009). Evidence-Based Management: Concept Cleanup Time? Academy of Management Perspectives, 23, pg. 21.

What is EBMgt? ProcessContent

EBMgt Process Is lack of knowledge the biggest problem? –“IT’S NOT WHAT FOLKS DON’T KNOW THAT IS THE PROBLEM, IT IS WHAT THEY KNOW THAT AIN’T SO.” Denise Rousseau’s 2010 Keynote address to the Practice-Theme Committee of the Academy of Management. –Implications: Unsettle settled questions. Test practitioners’ intuitions.

Four Elements of EBMgt Evaluated External Evidence Practitioner Expertise & Judgment Stakeholder Perspectives Local-Context Evidence Sources: Adapted from Briner, R. B., Denyer, D., & Rousseau, D. M. (2009). Evidence-Based Management: Concept Cleanup Time? Academy of Management Perspectives, 23, p. 22 and Briner, R. B., & Rousseau, D. M. (in press). Evidence-based I-O psychology: Not there yet. Focal article accepted for publication in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Decision

Becoming an Evidence-Based Manager Adopting the “attitude of wisdom”. –Acting on the best available knowledge. –Realizing that such knowledge may become obsolete. –Being open to learning & doing things differently. Existing knowledge may prove partially or completely incorrect. –Realizing that absolute certainty is not possible. Managers must manage without complete information. Try to minimize and tame uncertainty, not eliminate it. Source: Pfeffer, J., & Sutton, R. I. (2007). Suppose we took evidence- based management seriously: Implications for reading and writing management. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 6(1):

Six Steps to Becoming an Evidence-Based Manager 1.Understand what EBMgt means. 2.Make your decisions more explicit. 3.Ask “What’s the evidence for this?” when assertions are made without clear link to evidence. 4.Do directed reading on scientific evidence related to your work. 5.Make friends with people who know how to find scientific evidence. 6.Set personal learning goals to improve your decision- making processes. Source: Rousseau, D. M. (2010). Six steps to becoming an evidence- based manager. management.com/2010/06/six-steps-to-becoming-an-evidence-based- manager/#more-340

EBMgt Community of Practice Source: Reproduced (with minor modifications) from Rousseau, D. M., & McCarthy, S. (2007). Educating Managers From an Evidence-Based Perspective. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 6, 95. Researcher Teacher End-user Interaction Collaboration for EBMgt acquisition, storage and retrieval EBMgt dissemination consortium End-Users Practitioners and Consultants Researcher & End-user Interaction -Build and maintain relationships -Jointly identify research needs -Collaborate in basic and applied research Teacher & End-user Interaction -Design procedures to apply evidence -Develop decision supports -Sustain relationships over managerial careers EducatorsResearchers Researcher & Teacher Interaction -Identify critical needs for synthesis -Reduce gap between research and teaching

Summary and Final Thoughts EBMgt is a way of thinking about decision-making. It is about both process and content. It includes four elements (sources of information). EBMgt is about and can only be implemented by managers and other practitioners. Today’s session is one of the first in a series of learning events related to EBMgt and relevant skills (see also Bus 601; 608; 801).