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Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-based Management (Hardcover)

by Jeffrey Pfeffer (Author), Robert I. Sutton (Author) "ON THE DAY Synoptics and Wellfleet Communications merged to form Bay Networks, the company's revenue was about equal to its major competitor, Cisco Systems ..." (more)
4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 276 pages
  • Publisher: Harvard Business School Press; illustrated edition edition (1 Mar 2006)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1591398622
  • ISBN-13: 978-1591398622
  • Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.4 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 87,344 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Business Week
"…a rarity on the crowded management shelf…a useful reminder that the gut is often trumped by the facts."

Product Description
The best organizations have the best talent. . . Financial incentives drive company performance. . . Firms must change or die.

Popular axioms like these drive business decisions every day. Yet too much common management “wisdom” isn’t wise at all—but, instead, flawed knowledge based on “best practices” that are actually poor, incomplete, or outright obsolete. Worse, legions of managers use this dubious knowledge to make decisions that are hazardous to organizational health.

This practical and candid book challenges leaders to commit to evidence-based management as a way of organizational life – and shows how to finally turn this common sense into common practice.

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Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
ON THE DAY Synoptics and Wellfleet Communications merged to form Bay Networks, the company's revenue was about equal to its major competitor, Cisco Systems. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Back to management based on evidence, 28 Jul 2006
By Gerard Kroese (The Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Jeffrey Pfeffer is Professor of Organizational Behavior and Robert I. Sutton is Professor of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. They are the author of business bestseller `The Knowing-Doing Gap' (2000). This book was published in 2006 and consists of 9 chapters.

In the preface the authors explain the result of their exercise: "[This book] is a call for evidence-based management, a case for its potential impact, and a guide on how to use it." They also immediately warn readers: "There are no simple, easy answers, but there are answers." Part I - Setting the Stage - consists of two chapters, whereby the first chapter serves as an introduction into evidence-based management. "Evidence-based management proceeds from the premise that using better, deeper logic and employing facts to the extent possible permits leaders to do their jobs better." And although most managers try to act on the best evidence there is little rigorous use or serious appreciation of evidence-based management. In the second chapter the authors consider key impediments to implementing evidence-based management and how to overcome them. They also offer guidelines and ways of thinking to help organizations turn these ideas into action.

The main body of the book is contained within Part II - Dangerous Half-Truths About Managing People and Organizations - and consists of six chapters. Chapter 2 shows simple but powerful standards for judging which advice and practices advocated in the vast marketplace for business ideas are sound, which are suspect, and which are total nonsense. This is followed by an examination of perhaps the most basic half-truth - "work is fundamentally different from the rest of life and should be." This half-truth is fundamental because so much else follows from it. The organizational practices are quite different than we observe - or at least aspire to - in our personal life. Chapter 4 discusses the half-truth that "the best organizations have the best people", which was embraced during the dot-com boom and still lives on in the "war for talent" imagery. The next chapter examines one of the most deeply held half-truths in the business world, that "financial incentives drive company performance." However the authors' best evidence shows that using them to solve many problems leads organizations to stray from their goals and undermines performance.

The remaining three half-truths move up to the organizational level of analysis, focusing on the challenges of managing the enterprise. For instance, chapter 6 questions whether and when "strategy is destiny". Peffer and Sutton make an evidence-based case that excessive faith in strategic decision making is hazardous to an organization's health. This is followed by an examination of the faulty evidence and logic behind the mantra "change or die". The final chapter of this part considers what leaders are expected to do versus what they actually can and should do. The authors focus on these half-truths because they believe that "leaders who understand why each belief is flawed, and who think hard about the evidence for and against each, can develop more effective and sophisticated approaches to running their organizations."

In the final chapter the authors explain that managers can find and use evidence so their companies can avoid such dreadful journeys. They identify and discuss 9 implementation principles to help people and organizations to commit themselves to profit from evidence-based management. None of these principles will surprise anyone and most are in fact predictable. However, most of us do not always stick to them for a variety of reasons. "The question remains: Who will have the courage and wisdom to do it?"

Yes, I do like this book. Although it does not fundamentally bring any new principles to table, it will help most of us re-focus onto the extremely important task of managing based on evidence, data and facts. Pfeffer and Sutton effectively break down dangerous half-truths and make a compelling case for finding and using evidence to succeed not just in management/business but also in the rest of life. Just one criticism, there could be some more details on methods for gathering data and translating this into evidence.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Another Cracker from Robert Sutton!, 14 April 2006
Fans of 'The Knowing-Doing Gap' will know Robert and Jeffrey's no-nonsense style, and this doesn't disappoint, taking on the flawed logic and execution that can turn highly successful companies into also-rans almost overnight.

It's all here - failed mergers, dangerous half-truths and the lack of clear data, backed up by out-of-date management procedures. Robert and Jeffrey propose in their place Evidence Based Management, a simple, but effective approach to avoid the corporate banana skins.

As always, Robert and Jeffrey's books combine clear thinking backed up by sound academic research. They ask some fundamental questions, like "Do Financial Incentives Drive Company Performance?", "Are Great Leaders in Control of Their Companies" and, most chillingly, "Change of Die?"

This book is a must for anyone in a senior decision making role. Highly recommended!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Best management book ever!, 21 Feb 2007
By Jan Bo Kristensen "Durazell" (Copenhagen, Denmark) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
In my opinion this is the best management book ever. Then the book is all about facts and how to avoid running business' based on opinions. Before hiring a new manager or before you as a manager deals with any new problem this book is a must read.

This book thoroughly deals with years of management incompetence in major companies. The books shows how fact based management provides superior business results over the more widely used opinion based management. This could be called "The American Management Sickness" as most of the executives used as (scary) examples are from major US based companies. The authors dissect how US based companies for years have been run by the opinions of the charismatic leader's in contrast to using more fact based methods.

Typically I highlight a few sentences in each chapter that summarized the new knowledge I gain. My copy of this book is almost highlighted from start to finish. The value and insight provided by this book is overwhelming. I would like to give this book six stars. It is truly outstanding and is head and shoulders above the majority of published business books.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Jam-packed with intruiging thoughts and evidence
Ever since I read his book "Competitive Advantage through People" I have bought every book Jeffrey Pfeffer has (co-)written. And I have never been disappointed. Read more
Published on 24 Jul 2006 by Coert Visser

5.0 out of 5 stars How to avoid or escape the "Doing-Knowing Gap"

In my opinion, the most valuable business books are those which pose and then respond to an especially important question. Read more
Published on 13 Jul 2006 by Robert Morris

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