Evidence-based Management: Challenges & Partial Solutions

Sara L. RynesEvidence-Based Management Conference

University of GroningenNovember 7-8, 2011

What IS Evidence-based Management (EBM)?“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, Denyer & Rousseau, 2009

Not Everyone Is Impressed…“Fact-based” figures into a new suite of verbal tics that I find especially annoying: reality-based, evidence-based, knowledge-based. “As opposed to what?”, I am always tempted to ask. Alex Beam Boston Globe July 8, 2011

What Stands in the Way of EBM?Practitioner side

Lack of awareness of research findings

Disbelief or dislike of research findings

Non-implementation of research findings

Academic sideInsularity,

“incestuousness”Publishing norms

and reward structures

“Evidence wars”

Practice Barrier 1: Lack of AwarenessManagement not a profession

No required education or certificationLimits to education (e.g., MBA)Limits to post-educationAcademics not on most practitioners’ “radar

screen”

Practitioner Barrier 2: Awareness, but DisbeliefSome areas where practitioners (and some

academics) disbelieve research findingsDecision aids for selection (Highhouse, 2008)

& use of evidence by juries Validity of intelligence for predicting

performance (Hunter & Schmidt, 1998) Average effectiveness of goal setting vs.

“empowerment”

Commonalities in Findings Associated with DisbeliefThreats to self-image or threatening implications for self

outcomesDislike of findings that imply reduced control (Pinker)

(Intelligence, goals, actuarial formulae)Dislike of findings that describe humans in terms of

discrete traits (vs. holistic, individuated “bundle”)Dislike of “being a number; being like everyone else”

“Uniqueness paradox” (Rousseau)

“The Uniqueness Paradox”“But that’s a different

industry”“But we already hire

smart people”“But we already have a

better hiring system than most”

“But we have other objectives than performance” Would we use the same

logic with our doctor?

Other Barriers to Belief:Distrust of Science/ScientistsIncreasing funding of scientific studies by corporate

interests“You can find a scientist who’ll say anything”Findings keep changing (medicine, diet)In U.S.: Concerted, systematic attacks on science per se

(based on politics and religion)Embryonic stem cellsSexual abstinenceClimate Evolution

This book is a wake-up call to all Americans who value

intellectual honesty and civility in our national affairs.

Mooney’s exposure of the cynical collusion of special

business interests with the anti-intellectualism of the religious right is a must-read for all who care about this nation’s future.

(Russell Train, EPA Administrator for Nixon & Ford)

Practitioner Barrier 3:Belief but No ImplementationJohns (Personnel Psychology, 1993): Management

research ideas looked at as administrative rather than technological innovations.

Agency theory: Does reader of research act as an agent?Pfeffer & Sutton (Knowing-Doing Gap): Company

differences in research receptivityRogers (Diffusion of Innovations, 2003) & Tetlock (ASQ,

2000): Also individual differences in receptivityFerlie et al. (AMJ, 2005): Role of professionals; need to

elevate to higher levels of analysis

Potential Solutions: Warning

I think all the evidence about innovation in general practice points to the fact that rarely, very rarely, does a single method change people’s behaviour.

(Primary care doctor interviewed for Ferlie et al. )

Alternative Metaphors

Actions to Increase AwarenessBuild relationships with practitioners

Bartunek (AMJ, 2007), Burt (AMJ, 2007), Nonaka & Konno (1998)

Investigate topics of greater interest to practitionersContent areas: academics tend to “follow”Align research/reviews with problem-focusPhenomenon focus

Expand/reward use of appropriate outlets for translating research findings

Actions to Increase BeliefsCommunicate more effectivelyProduce more systematic reviews &

points of agreement among “camps” More effective teaching of statistics

& methodsMaybe how to read/interpret studies

more so than conducting them

Actions to Increase ImplementationCo-produce and co-implement research with

practitionersJoint sensemaking (Mohrman et al. and Amabile et al., AMJ, 2001)

Create “roadmaps” for implementation (e.g., Kotter)Enhance the “implications for practice” sections of academic journals

Communicate “principles” accompanied by examples Locke’s Handbook of OB Principles; Latham’s Becoming an Evidence-Based

Manager; Pearce’s Real Research for Real ManagersNeed research to find “what works”

Questions to PonderIs this just a micro OB/Human Resources

phenomenon? What structures are needed to support EBM?What additional evidence do WE (academics)

need to support EBM?Is EBM the right “marketing” for the

movement?

For further Details….Rynes, S.L. (in press). “The research-practice gap in I/O

psychology and related fields: Challenges and potential solutions.” In S. Kozlowski (Ed.), Oxford Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, OUP.

Giluk, T. & Rynes, S.L. (in press). “Research findings practitioners resist: Lessons for management academics from evidence-based medicine.” Forthcoming in D. Rousseau, (Ed.), Handbook of Evidence-Based Management: Companies, Classrooms and Research. OUP.