In this book, Pfeffer and Sutton examine what they call “the doing-knowing gap”: doing without knowing, or at least without knowing enough. “People kept telling us about the wonderful things they were doing to implement knowledge–but those things clashed with, and at times were the opposite of, what we knew about organizations and people. Upon probing, we soon discovered that many managers had been prompted by a seminar, book, or consultant to do things that were at odds with the best evidence about what works.” Pfeffer and Sutton identify some of the barriers to what they call “evidence-based management” and recommend specific steps that leaders can take to overcome those barriers.
In an earlier book, Pfeffer and Sutton examined “the knowing-doing gap.” Whereas that gap indicated that people could possess sufficient skills and knowledge but are unable to take effective action, “the doing-knowing gap” suggests problems of a quite different nature which result from hasty, uninformed decisions. “Hard facts” are not enough, however. They must also be the right facts and there must be enough of them. One final point: what Pfeffer and Sutton recommend can–and should–be implemented at all levels throughout any organization, regardless of size or nature. The leadership which evidence-based management requires has nothing to do with title or tenure but everything to do with being resourceful, empirical, and pragmatic, skeptical and suspicious but not cynical or manipulative. And the initiatives to achieve and then sustain effective evidence-based management must be collaborative and continuous.
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