Effectiveness of Evidence Based Research across Business, Social Sector, Education sectors, & Public Policy

Prof. MJ XavierExecutive Director – VIT University

Email: xavier_mj@yahoo.com

Presented in theInternational Conference on Evidence Based

Management 2015 (ICEBM2015) on March 20-21, 2015.BITS - Pilani

Evidence Based Approach in Health Management

From• RMPs• Family Physician (Limited

choice of medicines and treatments) – urine test for diabetics

• Child birth was near death experience. Very little tools to scan the child in womb

• Doctors as all knowers and trusting patients

To• MBBS and MDs• Multi specialties with

sophisticated tests and scans – blood test, Lipid profile, renal tests

• It has become child’s play, close monitoring and cesarean

• Knowledgeable patients (Google) who take second opinions.

The Shift

Subjective and judgmental decisions using l imited Data

Decisions based on Objective data and scientif ic research.

Evidence Based Decision Making

• Evidence-based decision making is defined as:

• “the systematic application of the best available evidence to the evaluation of options and to decision making in clinical, management, and policy settings.”

Business Decisions - Ideal

relatively high rates of customer complaints workforce supply shortage poor relations between administration and other

departments adoption of new technology declining market share

Think of the last time your organization Think of the last time your organization (or SBU) faced a managerial problem, (or SBU) faced a managerial problem, such as:such as:

What decision did your What decision did your organization’s managers make? How organization’s managers make? How

did they make these decisions?did they make these decisions?

Evidence-based Decision

• Whims and Fancies of the leader

• No leader trusts the formal reporting system but relies on his coterie of confidants

• Think of the last promotion in your organization – How objectively was it done?

• Leaders use research and numbers to support their decisions (As lamp post by drunken men.)

• Projection for Iso-cyanide

Business Decisions

Once upon a time there was a shepherd looking after his sheep on the side of a

deserted road. Suddenly a brand new Porsche screeches to a halt. The driver,

a man dressed in an Armani suit, Cerutti shoes, Ray-Ban sunglasses, TAG-

Heuer wrist-watch, and a Pierre Cardin tie gets out and asks the shepherd, 'If I

can tell you how many sheep you have, will you give me one of them?' The

shepherd looks at the young man, then looks at the large flock of grazing sheep

and replies, 'Okay.'The young man parks the car, connects his laptop to the

mobile-fax, enters a NASA Website, scans the ground using his GPS, opens a

database and 60 Excel tables filled with algorithms and pivot tables. He then

prints out a 150-page report on his high-tech mini-printer, turns to the shepherd

and says, 'You have exactly 1,586 sheep.' The shepherd cheers, 'That's

correct, you can have your sheep. 'The young man takes one of the animals

from the flock and puts it in the back of his Porsche.

How do our MBAs make decisions?

The shepherd looks at him and asks, 'If I guess your Educational Qualification,

will you return my animal to me?' The young man answers, 'Yes, why not?' The

shepherd says, 'You are an MBA from a premier management Institute'. 'How

did you know?' asks the young man. 'Very simple,' answers the shepherd.

'Firstly, you came here without being wanted. Secondly, you charged me a fee to

tell me something I already knew. Thirdly, you don't understand anything about

my business.....Now can I have my dog back? '

India’s Education System

• After the invention of chalk and blackboard nothing much has changed.

• “India’s education system is poor in quality and produces “functional illiterates”’. The term “functional illiteracy” refers to inadequate reading and writing skills that leave a person unable to effectively manage any employment task.

Einstein on education

Can we reform the exam system?

Can we upgrade our teachers on technology?

Resistance to introduction of Class-room Capture.

Our MBAs are Arrogant

An MBA from an IIM asked a boat guy in Bihar, "Do you know Biology,

Psychology, Geography, Geology or Criminology?" The boat guy said, "No. I

don't know any of these." The MBA then said, "What the hell do you know on

the face of this Earth? You will die of illiteracy!“

The boat guy said nothing.. After a while the boat developed a fault and started

sinking. The boatman then asked the MBA, "Do you know Swimology and

Escapology from Crocodiology?" The MBA said, "No!" The boat guy replied,

"Well, today you will Drownology and Crocodiology will eat your Arseology. I will

not Helpology and you will Dieology because of your Badmouthology."

http://thesuccessmanual.bighow.com 16

MBAs Cheat

56% of all MBA students cheat at Exams.

Source: study by the Academy of Management Learning and Education of 5,300 students in the U.S. and Canada

Public Policy

• Employment Guarantee Scheme• Free gadgets• Subsidized food• Free health check-up

Apart from getting votes they do serve a purpose. Should we get pro-business and remove all subsidies?

Is EBD Method Infallible• Is it a fad? – From OR to Management Science to Business

Analytics to Big Data

• Can we go wrong with EBD?– From family Planning to 5 or more per mother.

• Can EBD arrive at biased decisions?– Drug lobby vs new cure for diabetics, cancer etc.

Despite the draw backs it make sense to research and practice EBD. Good to have conferences to promote EBD.

Prof. M J Xavierxavier_mj@yahoo.com