Just last week I received a nice email from Miguel Olivas Lujan. He just became aware of this little blog and was kind enough to attach his article on evidence based management, which was not yet in my collection. Miguel is professor of administrative sciences at Clarion University in Pennsylvania. The article is titled Evidence Based Management: A Business Necessity for Hispanices which he published in The Business Journal for Hispanic research. Subscribers to this journal can read the whole article here. Non subscribers can send an email to Miguel for a personal copy. (this prevents any copyrights infringement on my part...). Since he wrote an article on evidence based management, I thought it would only be fair to ask him some fundamental questions on evidence based management.1. What do you view as the core idea and purpose of EBMgt?
The core idea in my opinion is –first of all—the systematic use of research methods in managerial decision making. But the decision maker’s judgment and the integration of stakeholders’ values are also essential components that have often been overlooked. Managerial problems are often so complex that decision makers have to extrapolate (also known as making “best guesses”) from previous experiences because a solution has not been tried in a particular context. Also, there are many areas (take for example, international management) whereby stakeholders’ values (particularly customers’ and employees’ values) are such that “what has been found” in one context might not work in another (a classic example would be managing by objectives or MBO). The core purpose is making managers and organizations more effective and rational, less wasteful, yet respectful of differences and mindful of personal competencies and weaknesses (yes, I’ll admit this sounds much as a “pie in the sky” but I’m an idealist at heart).
2. What do you think would be the benefit(s) for organizations and society as a whole if management would be based more on evidence?
Greater efficiency, less politics (well, of the “spinning wheels in vain” kind; I agree that the use of evidence per se will have political repercussions), accelerated progress, more competitiveness…
3. What progress has the EBMgt movement currently been making?
At this point, I believe we have been able to start a much needed conversation. I wish I could report a greater impact but (well, speaking from the academic experience) it’s not easy to dedicate the time this movement deserves when teaching our students is what brings bread to the table. Now, the conversation is not “without teeth” either! Denise Rousseau, along with David Denyer and Josh Manning have raised the standard for literary reviews; Sara Rynes has been documenting specific problems and making actionable recommendations within the Human Resource Management profession; Joan Pearce just wrote a new, and already award-winning textbook focusing on research findings; Jean Bartunek, Gary Latham, Sara Rynes, and others have individually been writing on how academicians can better communicate their findings to practitioners, etc. Plus, the fact that you, Tracy Altman, Bob Sutton and Jeff Pfeffer have been bringing this topic to the “blogosphere” (I probably should include my blog here too) also attests to the fact that there is an important need to be satisfied. But, as Denise stated in her response to this question, it may take “a generation before a new evidence-informed practice takes hold.”
4. What future do you envision for EBMgt in (research and practice)?
More focused work! The need is too important to be left unattended! As my article in the Business Journal of Hispanic Research suggests, if other fields such as Medicine and Education have been able to make such significant inroads through the Cochrane and the Campbell collaborations, why not Management? It is evident that the ride will not be smooth as the inertia to do things the old way is quite strong… but, as we say in Spanish, “Roma no se hizo en un día” (Rome was not built in a day) ;-D
Thank you very much Miguel for sharing your insights.
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