Module 13: APPLY - Evidence Flashcards
(8 cards)
Read the scenario below.
A civil service organization in Australia considers implementing goal setting—the ability of all employees, managers, and executives to set performance goals that support the common objectives of the organization. One of the departmental heads, however, points out that several high-quality studies have demonstrated that when a complex or novel task is involved, a learning goal (e.g., adopting a specific number of strategies or procedures to perform the task correctly) leads to higher performance than a performance goal (focused on results). The department head therefore argues that for new or complex tasks, people should set learning goals, not performance goals. When asked about the generalizability of these findings, the department head explains that most studies were conducted in law firms, insurance companies, and healthcare organizations in the United States.
How do you judge the generalizability of these studies’ findings to the context of an Australian civil service organization?
Generalizable
Read the scenario below.
A German tech company specializing in the development of wind turbines considers implementing a new production method to increase productivity. It is expected that the new method will lead to a cheaper and faster manufacturing process, which will result in a significant productivity increase and an annual revenue growth of $1.5 million. According to the company’s chief operating officer, there is a 70 percent chance that the new method will indeed boost productivity. This, of course, means that there is a 30 percent chance that the new method will be less efficient than the current manufacturing process—the worst case scenario would be a substantial decrease in productivity and a 20 percent drop of annual revenue. The company’s current annual revenue is $32 million.
Would you recommend that the company implement the new method?
No, because the expected value is too low.
Read the scenario below.
A tech start-up in Silicon Valley (California, USA) wants to improve the performance of its engineers and software and R&D teams. The HR director suggests increasing employee engagement because the findings of a new Harvard Business Review Analytic Services report of more than 550 tech company executives indicate that three-quarters of those surveyed said that most employees in their organizations are not highly engaged. When you consult the research literature you find several studies that suggest the correlation between employee engagement and performance is between 0.12 and 0.26. In addition, you find a recent systematic review of studies on drivers of knowledge work performance. The study included a table (shown below) listing factors and their correlation with performance.
Would you recommend increasing the company’s employee engagement?
(Correlations mainly below 0.6)
No
Read the scenario below.
In order to improve the performance and innovation of its R&D teams, the tech start-up mentioned above decides to increase trust and social cohesion among team members. The company’s HR manager suggests implementing team-building activities, which are assumed to have a positive effect on both intra-team trust and social cohesion. The HR manager acknowledges that team-building activities sometimes backfire and lead to distrust and conflicts, but based on the available scientific evidence, he estimates this chance to be about 5 percent. Within a week after the team-building activities start, however, several teams report an increased number of conflicts between members, which negatively affects performance and stifles innovation. The company’s CEO considers firing the HR manager—obviously, his risk estimate was inaccurate.
Do you agree that the HR manager’s risk estimate was inaccurate?
I need more information.
Read the scenario below.
In 2016, an investigation by the Seattle Times revealed a serious gender bias within the careers platform LinkedIn. Highly paid jobs were not displayed as frequently for searches by women as they were for men because of the way LinkedIn’s algorithms were written. When LinkedIn examined this embarrassing flaw, it found that for these high-paying jobs, the users of the site’s job search function were predominantly male, so the algorithm ended up proposing these jobs only to men.
Which ethical principle is of concern here?
Justice
Read the following findings from a systematic review on the drivers of sales performance. Determine whether the finding is actionable.
- Sales training has a moderate to large effect on sales performance.
- How a salesperson perceives a new product influences the amount of effort he or she puts into selling it.
- Motivation has a small to moderate effect on sales performance.
- Financial incentives (e.g., bonus pay based on number of products sold) have a moderate positive effect on sales performance.
Only 3 is not actionable (how to increase motivation?)
Read the following findings from a systematic review on the effects of mergers on firm performance. Determine whether there is a moderator that needs to be taken into account.
- The turnover of top managers after a merger is negatively correlated with firm performance.
- Cultural differences between the merging firms is negatively correlated with firm performance.
- In general, mergers do not lead to a substantial increase of firm performance.
Only 3 does not have a moderator
Given the type of decision at hand, determine the best form in which the evidence can be applied.
- A public service organization that wants to enhance the service orientation of its civil servants
- A public service organization that wants to improve the performance appraisal procedure of civil servants
- A public service organization that wants to prepare for the effects of climate change
- An evidence summary, such as critically appraised topic (CAT) or rapid evidence assessment (REA)
- A protocol, decision tree or standard operation procedure
- Probably little evidence is available => learn by doing process + systematic assessment of outcomes
