The recent post by Tracy Allison Altman showed that the title of a book is often misleading. She showed that the word ‘evidence-based’ becomes meaningless if three books with this term in the title deal with totally different subjects. It appears that the ‘evidence-based approach’ starts to become the flavor of the month. Just yesterday I discovered a book called Management: an evidence-based approach. But how can you tell what it really is about? Especially if these books are quite expensive. Well, if you an editor you can order a copy for appraisal from the publisher, but that is not enough for the rest of us. What are actually some agreed upon metrics?
Continue reading Appraising ‘evidence-based’ books?
The discussing about evidence based management is very much alive today. In the Dutch management journal M&O magazine, three scholars take things one step further. They wonder in their article if evidence based consultancy is within the realm of possibilities. They describe evidence based consultancy as a service innovation in consultancy, where interventions are supported by scientific evidence and/or repeatedly proven positive practices. They are aware of the huge gap between theory and practice. In their article they refer to the evidence based medicine practice as a way of working in the medical profession and see potential for evidence based consultancy.
Continue reading Evidence-based consultancy, the next step?
Change management is very much alive today! Despite the lack of success and reports about high percentages of failure (the infamous 70%), popularity is on the rise. This is the opening statement from the article “Op weg naar evidence based change management” by Eric Barends and Steven ten Have which was published in the Holland Management Review. These Dutch researchers disagree with the reported percentages of failure and have refuted this in another article. They are however optimistic about systematic research (in the spirit of Peter Drucker) in order to establish What, Why and How something works and what doesn’t regarding change management. Their article provides an overview of the developments in change management and investigates the practical barriers for evidence based change management. They make an analogy with psychology, where there was consensus amongst clinical psychologist that ‘debriefing’ after shocking events prevents psycho trauma. This ‘cultural belief’ was shattered, when it was recently discovered that ‘debriefings’ enhances the chance of a psycho trauma. Without any doubt there are similar misperceptions in change management and we should work extra hard to reach the next level toward evidence based change management and root these misperceptions out.
Continue reading Toward evidence based change management
The recent post by Tracy Allison Altman showed that the title of a book is often misleading. She showed that the word ‘evidence-based’ becomes meaningless if three books with this term in the title deal with totally different subjects. It appears that the ‘evidence-based approach’ starts to become the flavor of the month. Just yesterday I discovered a book called Management: an evidence-based approach. But how can you tell what it really is about? Especially if these books are quite expensive. Well, if you an editor you can order a copy for appraisal from the publisher, but that is not enough for the rest of us. What are actually some agreed upon metrics?
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