Evidence-Based Management

We shall shortly be announcing the dates of our next UK seminar on this subject. To register interest please click here

Evidence-based management uses the current, best evidence in management decision-making. The approach first took hold in medicine and is spreading to education, public policy, manufactruing and services.

Five Principles of EBM

Face the hard facts, and build a culture in which people are encouraged to tell the truth, even if it is unpleasant

Be committed to "fact based" decision making -- which means being committed to getting the best evidence and using it to guide actions

Treat your organization as an unfinished prototype -- encourage experimentation and learning by doing

Look for the risks and drawbacks in what people recommend -- even the best medicine has side effects

Avoid basing decisions on untested but strongly held beliefs, what you have done in the past, or on uncritical "benchmarking" of what winners do

What is Evidence-Based Management

Evidence-Based Management (EBM) entails managerial decisions and organisational practices informed by the best available scientific evidence. Much like its counterparts in medicine and education, the judgments EBM entails also consider the circumstances and ethical concerns managerial decisions involve.

What are the Difficulties

No formal body of shared knowledge characterizes managers, making it unlikely that peer pressure will be exerted to promote use of evidence by any manager who refuses to do so. Little shared language or terminology exists, making it difficult for managers to hold discussions of evidence or evidence-based practices.

Current Initiatives

At present, there are initiatives in several parts of the world, in the US through the Academy of Management, in Canada through CHERF, the Canadian Health Education and Research Foundation, to begin building communities promoting EBM. Research in management science

Tsana's Approach

The Tsana Workshop offers well-proven principles and methodology that should be at the heart of Evidence-Based Management and teaches students how to apply the methods of process improvement within the EBM framework.