ebook9789082695762d4325

Description

The basic idea of evidence-based management is that good-quality decisions require both critical thinking and use of the ‘best available evidence’. This evidence may come from scientific research, internal business information, stakeholder perspectives and concerns, and even professional experience. Although all management practitioners use evidence in their decisions, many pay little attention the quality of the evidence and tend to base their decisions on too few sources of evidence. As a result, decisions in business and organizations are too often based on fads, new ‘cutting edge’ solutions, and popular ideas promoted by consulting firms and management gurus. The bottom line is bad decisions, poor outcomes, and limited understanding of why things go wrong. In response to this problem the idea of evidence-based management
has evolved, with the goal of improving the quality of decision making by using critically evaluated evidence from multiple sources – organizational data, professional expertise, stakeholder values and the scientific research literature. While the idea of evidence-based management sounds sensible and straightforward, gathering, understanding and applying evidence can be challenging and requires a set of specific skills. This course will develop students’ evidence-based skills and enhance their understanding of how an evidence-based approach can be used to support organizational decision-making and management practice.