Lecture 2

Question 1

How did Evidence-Based Management emerge?

Answer 1

The Evidence-Based Medicine Working Group, (1992). Evidence-Based Medicine: a new approach to teaching the Practice of Medicine., Journal of America Medical Association, November, pp268 (17), 2420-2425.

Question 2

what does ‘Interview with Dr Gordon Guyatt’ on the emergence of ‘Evidence-Based Medicine’ say

Answer 2

• emerged from doctors who were using diagnostic criteria to assess patients
• managers were making decision within organisations without using evidence of quality of evidence

Question 3

The case for evidence-based decisions

Answer 3

• ebm is not the be all and end all to all organisations as individual experience is also relevant
• we need a balance between both - individual managerial experience and best available quality evidence

Question 4

What counts as ‘evidence’?

Answer 4

Information:

• that is available
  
  • seen and heard
• from many sources
• that is ‘conceivable’
  
  • legitimacy and credibility, comprehensible
• that is ‘trustworthy’
• that is ‘verified’
  
  • has so be checked and scrutinise

Question 5

Types of evidence / data

Answer 5

1. Qualitative
   
   1. texts and words
2. Quantitative
   
   1. numbers and statistics

Question 6

What are the merits and limitations of using both types of data when managing cholera in 1850’s London?

Answer 6

• Quantitative Data:

Snow created a dot map plotting cholera deaths around the Broad Street pump. This revealed a clear clustering of cases, providing strong numerical evidence of a waterborne source.

• Qualitative Data:

He also conducted interviews with local residents and observed that individuals who drank from other sources (e.g., nearby brewery workers) did not contract cholera.

merits
Faster Problem Identification
Holistic Understanding for Decision Making

limitations

Bias and Resistance to Non-Numerical Evidence
Data Quality and Inconsistencies
Lack of Analytical Tools

Question 7

What are the merits and limitations of using qualitative and quantitative data

Answer 7

1. Qualitative
   
   1. merits - can evaluate experience
   2. limitations - not also realibale
2. Quantitative
   
   1. merits - Objectivity and Consistency, Scalability, Supports Evidence-Based Decisions, Easier to Visualise
   2. limitations - Lack of Context, Risk of Misinterpretation, Data Quality Issues, Overemphasis on Metrics

Question 9

EBM misconceptions

Answer 9

1. It ignores the practitioner’s professional experience
   
2. It is all about numbers and statistics
   
3. Managers don’t have time for EBM
   
   • they get the principles but they dont have to time to follow recommendations
   • it’s appealing but don’t have time to invest
   • links to Mintzberg argument of getting interrupted
4. Scientific literature evidence is limited
   
   • covid could have been handled better with information such as South Korea in the way that they handles their pandemic
   • it can be dismissed
5. Without high-quality evidence, you cannot do anything
   
   • experience matters as well
6. Good quality evidence gives you ‘the answer’ to the problem
   
   1. not always answering the problem

Question 10

Critique of EBM (1)

Answer 10

• It obscures the micro politics of EBP i.e. what data or ‘evidence’ is foregrounded and backgrounded (Tomkins & Bristow, 2023)
• Underplays the political dimensions of decision-making (Hodgkinson et al 2009)
• It serves the purpose of those at the most senior levels of the organizational hierarchy (Morrell & Learmouth, 2015)
• Commissioners of organization evaluations often ‘shoot the messenger’ when evidence is produced that is not to the liking of executive managers or government (Keenan, 2024)

Question 11

Critique of EBM (2)

Answer 11

• “The seductive catchphrase of evidence-based practice” & ‘What matters / works here’ with ‘what matters / works everywhere’ (Tomkins & Bristow, 2023: p118)
• It serves an identity purpose (under the auspices of promoting the use of ‘knowledge’ under the guise of ‘evidence’ and that this serves individuals offers them social capital than actually benefiting the organization (Stevens,2011)
• The role of emotion is absent throughout EBM principles (Seo & Barrett, 2008)
• EBP is considered an “anti-democratic practice” that furthers the interest with those with authority
• Methodological argument that EBM privileges the quantitative elements of organizations over the qualitative. Q. Universally true?