3. Evidence-based management: What is stopping us?

WHAT’S STOPING US? What is stopping us? The quick fix problem The management fad (fashion) problem Why don’t academics and researchers like EBMgt? Why don’t managers and practitioners like EBMgt?

WHAT’S STOPING US? 1. The Quick Fix Problem

QUICK FIXES What is a quick fix? A ‘solution’ which Focuses on style and presentation, not content Is always slower than we hoped Usually doesn’t work Is followed by another quick fix

So who needs or wants academic research? QUICK FIXES So why do we do quick fixes? Because quick fixes Can be career-enhancing for managers Speed is often valued over accuracy Do we crave quick and easy solutions? So who needs or wants academic research?

WHAT’S STOPING US? 2. The Management Fad Problem

Group think: management fads The nearly-forgotten fads: Scientific Management/Taylorism Business Process Reengineering Management by results Excellence Total Quality Management Learning Organizations Knowledge Management

Group think: management fads The fads that haven’t been forgotten (yet): Talent management Management development Executive coaching Emotional intelligence Employee engagement Knowledge management Myers Briggs Type Indicator Belbin Team Roles

So who needs or wants academic research? So why do we do management fads? Promise to deliver a lot and fast Appear simple New and shiny Will make everything alright and help contain anxieties around intractable problems Help user feel effective and cutting edge Bits of some fads may work in some contexts So who needs or wants academic research? *Evidence-based management not a fad!

WHAT’S STOPING US? 3. Why don’t academics like EBMgt?

Why don’t academics like EBMgt? Ambivalence about the value and applicability of management research Few incentives to get involved Primary research (collecting new data) valued more highly than secondary research (reviewing existing data) EBMgt not academics‘responsibility – this is about practice not research Some concern that systematic reviews will expose the limited nature of management research Some academics are like ‘gurus’ and feel that EBMgt might show their claims to be untrue

WHAT’S STOPING US? 4. Why don’t managers like EBMgt?

Why don’t managers like EBMgt? Undermines formal authority They feel it constrains freedom to make managerial decisions Speed valued and rewarded more than accuracy Feel they cannot use their own experience and judgment (not true) Managers not necessarily rewarded for doing what works (organizations rarely evaluate)

Why don’t managers like EBMgt? Huge (peer) pressure to adopt fads

Huge (peer) pressure to adopt fads “And there we see the power of any big managerial idea (or fad). It may be smart, like quality, or stupid, like conglomeration. Either way, if everybody's doing it, the pressure to do it too is immense. If it turns out to be smart, great. If it turns out to be stupid, well, you were in good company and most likely ended up no worse off than your competitors. Your company's board consists mostly of CEOs who were probably doing it at their companies. How mad can they get?

Huge (peer) pressure to adopt fads The true value of conventional management wisdom is not that it's wise or dumb, but that it's conventional. It makes one of the hardest jobs in the world, managing an organization, a little easier. By following it, managers everywhere see a way to drag their sorry behinds through another quarter without getting fired. And isn't that, really, what it's all about?” (Colvin, 2004, Fortune)

What is stopping us? SO WHAT’S STOPPING US? We are stopping us!