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Business Management Book Store > Business Management books beginning with H
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Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-Based Management |
Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer
Published: 2006-03-01 |
List price: $29.95
Our price: $19.77
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As of: January 07th, 2009 10:28:06 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Easy, but profound
I never thought that I would be walking around quoting a management book. I am a social worker studying non-profit management and this book has validated my years of work experience - how good managers should treat people, when you need to look for the answers internally vs. externally, what "evidence based" really mean, how execs need to combine confidence with modesty, the importance of the team, the use of simple language, how relationships really do matter, and on and on. I think any manager could benefit from this read, as long as they are willing to look at him or herself - the results could be dramatic.
Exellent facts and myths on management
Hard Facts introduces the concept of evidence-based management as an alternative to the fad of the month style of management. The evidence based management movement is influenced by the evidence based management movement. It promoted making decisions based on well-research evidence which means an attitude change towards a constant search for better evidence to make better decisions.
The book consists of three parts. The first part, setting the stage, is an introduction to the concept of evidence based management and how to practice it. It takes a couple of myths or half-truths and examines them and shows how they are not based on evidence.
The second part are examples of half-truths in organizations. I found this chapter most fun. It looks at a six assumptions common in modern management and examines the evidence that support these practices. The first half-truth is that work ought to be different than the rest of the life. The half-truth that people ought to act differently since "now they are at work". The second half-truth relates to hiring the best people. Is it true that all companies need to do is hire the best. This chapter examines the relationship between systems and people and skill. The third chapter relates to motivation and incentives. Do they drive your company? Are they important? Or, are they perhaps harmful? The fourth chapter looks at the focus modern management puts on strategy and questions whether this is worth the amount of effort. Is having the right strategy really the most important thing for an organization? Next a chapter called "Change or die" which looks at organizational change in general and asks whether organizations really have to adapt or else they will not survive? It discusses the risk of organizational change and gives advise, evidence-based advice, on how to be more successful in change. The last half-truth is about leadership. Are leaders in control?
The last part is the typical ending part of a book, how to change? It summarizes evidence-based management in ten principles. Adopting evidence-based management will mean to adopt these principles.
"Hard facts" is well written. It's fun to read and it is a serious attempt to tackle some myths in current management practices. An excellent book and highly recommended for anyone who is interested in management based on facts.
Profiting From Evidence-Based Management
"Why do executives do things without real knowledge or evidence that what they are doing is valid?"
In today's ultra-fast, ultra-competitive, and ultra-confusing world, executives are constantly seeking anything that will provide a performance or competitive edge. And there are gurus, writers, consultants, and former executives who all have a plan or formula or template for that edge. The need and these so-called solutions come together in a seductive and sometimes lethal package called "best practices."
But:
* Who says these are the best practices?
* What is the evidence that these are valid beyond their immediate context?
* What is the real cost and strategic impact of adopting the best practice?
Pfeffer and Sutton point out that executives often make decisions based on gut feel, what's worked in the past, recommendations from others, and conventional wisdom. In fact, conventional wisdom is so powerful that executives have difficulty seeing the evidence to the contrary and continue to make decisions that do not enhance the performance of the company. This echoes the insight of Edwards W. Deming who noted that most management knowledge is based on superstition, not fact. As an antidote, the authors recommend evidence-based management.
The book also includes extensive supporting notes pointing the reader to the evidence behind their conclusions.
The goal of this book is not to make the job of the executive or manager more difficult, but to improve thinking and decision-making so that you understand what and why you are doing what you are doing. And in doing so, you reduce cost and risk while increasing the chances of improving competitive performance. At the least you'll be a more careful consumer of business advice.
Read the entire review at http://insidework.net/resources/readinglist/entry-0000020678
Another thought provoking work from Pfeffer
I've been an avid Pfeffer fan since 'Resource Dependency', so am inclined to give him 5 stars for anything he writes.
The main themes in here are extremely thought provoking and are great for jogging one's brain to think thorough one's management assumptions. A few of his analogies are weak...I believe there are better cases as analogies for some of Pfeffer's points. He relies upon his corporate experience, but most of the half-truths have graphic examples in government bureaucracies. Using those types of examples would have made the book more alive.
I bought this when it first came out and just reread this weekend. It's the type of book I share with my staff to start the conversation about our approach to work. Very useful tool in that regard.
Great scientific evaluation of many management beliefs
This is one of the best books on management, which takes a hard scientific look at deeply ingrained beliefs and provides scientific pointers, in many cases to the gold standard--controlled experiments.
As with any book, each of us loves evidence that supports our own beliefs, but this book provides strong evidence that made me re-evaluate some other deeply ingrained (and likely wrong) beliefs, and that's the real value of the book.
Unlike In Search of Excellence, which was highly motivating, but weak on causal data (most evidence was correlational), this one is full of great pointers to solid evidence and controlled experiments.
To keep the balance in this review, I'll mention one gripe. In multiple cases the authors have fallen into the trap of pointing to anecdotal evidence and single examples of "success" to support their claim, thus failing to pass the bar of scientific-based evaluations. These are few, and most evaluations are very solid, hence the 5 stars.
Read it, and re-evaluate some of our own misconceptions!
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