Abstract
Evidence-based health care (EBHC) has now enjoyed over 10 years of popularity in many clinical fields across the globe. Today, it seems axiomatic that all health care practice can, and should, be evidence-based — that is to say, practice should integrate individual clinical expertise ‘with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research’ (Sackett et al. 1996:71). But whilst EBHC can ‘work’ — at least when work means (quite specifically) that aggregate clinical outcomes are improved — its overall successes are overdrawn (evidence-based medicine rarely provides categorical, recipe-style answers for individual clinical situations). Indeed, much optimistic hype is accumulating about EBHC with some unintended consequences.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Alvesson, M. and Deetz, S. (2000) Doing critical management research, London: Sage.
Alvesson, M. and Willmott, H. (1996) Making sense of management: A critical introduction, London: Sage.
Axelsson, R. (1998) ‘Towards an evidence-based health care management’, International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 13, 307–317.
Briner, R. (2000) ‘Evidence-based human resource management’ in L. Trinder (ed) Evidence-based practice: A critical appraisal, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 184–211.
Burrell, G. and Morgan, G. (1979) Sociological paradigms and organisational analysis: Elements of the sociology of corporate life, London: Heinemann.
Clark, T. and Salaman, G. (1998) ‘Telling tales: Management gurus’ narratives and the construction of managerial identity’, Journal of Management Studies, 35 (2), 137–159.
Cranfield, S. and Ward, H. (2002) Managing change in the NHS (2001) Publications. (http://www.sdo.lshtm.ac.uk/pdf/changemanagement.survey.pdf) accessed 02.07.03.
Davies, H., Nutley, S. and Smith, P. (2000) ‘Introducing evidence-based policy and practice in public services’ in H. Davies (ed) What works? Evidence-based policy and practice in public services, Bristol: The Policy Press, pp. 1–12.
Deetz, S. (2003) ‘Disciplinary power, conflict suppression and human resources management’ in M. Alvesson (ed) Studying management critically, London: Sage, pp. 23–45
Donovan, C. (2005) ‘The governance of social science and everyday epistemology’, Public Administration, 83 (3), 597–615.
Dopson, S. (2006) ‘Debate: Why does knowledge stick? What we can learn from the case of evidence-based health care’, Public Money and Management, (April), 26(2), 85–86.
Fuller, S. (2000) ‘Why science studies has never been critical of science: Some recent lessons on how to be a helpful nuisance and a harmless radical’, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 30 (1), 5–32.
Green, J. (2000) ‘Epistemology, evidence and experience: Evidence-based health care in the work of accident alliances’, Sociology of Health & Illness, 22 (4), 453–476.
Grey, C. (1996) ‘Towards a critique of managerialism: The contribution of Simone Weil’, Journal of Management Studies, 33 (5), 591–611.
Grey, C. (2004) ‘Reinventing business schools: The contribution of critical management education’, Academy of Management Learning and Education, 3 (2), 178–186.
Hewison, A. (1997) ‘Evidence-based medicine: What about evidence-based management?’, Journal of Nursing Management, 5, 195–198.
Iles, V. and Sutherland, K. (2001) Organisational change: A review for health care managers, professionals and researchers, London: NCCSDO.
Iles, V., Cranfield, S. and Richardson, L. (2004) Developing change management skills: A resource for health care professionals and managers. Writing: A method of inquiry, www.sdo.lshtm.ac.uk/changemanagement{Idevelopingskills.pdf}, accessed 01.12.04.
Jack, G. and Westwood, R. (2006) ‘Postcolonialism and the politics of qualitative research in international business’, Management International Review, 46 (4), 481–501.
Kovner, A. R., Elton, J. J. and Billings, J. (2000) ‘Evidence-based management’, Frontiers of Health Services Management, 16 (4), 3–24.
Lambert, H., Gordon, E. and Bogdan-Lovis E. (2006), ‘Introduction: Gift Horse or Trojan Horse? Social Science Perspectives on Evidence-based Health Care’, Social Science & Medicine, 62 (11), 2613–2620.
Learmonth, M. (2003) ‘Making health services management research critical: A review and a suggestion’, Sociology of Health & Illness, 25 (1), 93–119.
Learmonth, M. (2006) ‘Is there such a thing as “evidence-based management”?: A commentary on Rousseau’s 2005 presidential address’, Academy of Management Review, 31 (4), 1089–1091.
Linstead, S. and Grafton-Small, R. (1992) ‘On reading organizational culture’, Organization Studies, 13 (3), 331–355.
Llewellyn, S. (2001) ‘“Two-way windows”: Clinicians as medical managers’, Organization Studies, 22 (4), 593–623.
Morse, J. M. (2006) ‘The politics of evidence’ in N. K. Denzin and M. Giardina (eds) Qualitative inquiry and the conservative challenge, Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, pp. 79–92.
Ozcan, Y. A. and Smith, P. (1998) ‘Towards a science of the management of health care’, Health Care Management Science, 1, 1–4.
Parker, M. and Dent, M. (1996) ‘Managers, doctors and culture: Changing an English health district’, Administration and Society, 28 (3), 335–361.
Peters, T. J. and Waterman, R. H. (1982) In search of excellence: Lessons from America’s best-run companies, New York: Harper Row.
Pfeffer, J. and Sutton, R. (2006) Hard facts,dangerous half-truths and total nonsense: Profiting from evidence-based management, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Potter, J. (1996) Representing reality: Discourse,rhetoric and social construction, London: Sage.
Rousseau, D. (2006) ‘Is there such a thing as “evidence-based management”?’, Academy of Management Review, 31 (2), 256–269.
Sackett, D., Rosenberg, W., Muir Gray, J. A., Haynes, B. and Richardson, S. (1996) ‘Evidence-based medicine: What it is and what it isn’t’, British Medical Journal, 312, 71–72.
Scott, T., Mannion, R., Marshall, M. and Davies, H. (2003) ‘Does organisational culture influence health care performance? A review of the evidence’, Journal of Health Services Research Policy, 8 (2), 105–117.
Stewart, R. (2002) Evidence-based management: A practical guide for health professionals, Abingdon, Oxon: Radcliffe Medical Press.
Strangleman, T. and Roberts, I. (1999) ‘Looking through the window of oppor- tunity: The cultural cleansing of workplace identity’, Sociology, 33 (1), 47–67.
Tenbensel, T. (2004) ‘Does more evidence lead to better policy? The implications of explicit priority-setting in New Zealand’s health policy for evidence-based policy’, Policy Studies, 25 (3), 189–207.
Tranfield, D., Denyer, D. and Smart, P. (2003) ‘Towards a methodology for developing evidence-informed management knowledge by means of systematic review’, British Journal of Management, 14, 207–222.
Traynor, M. (2004) ‘Nursing, managerialism and evidence-based practice: The constant struggle for influence’ in M. Learmonth (ed) Unmasking Health Management: A critical text, New York: Nova Science, pp. 117–128.
Walshe, K. and Rundall, T. (2001) ‘Evidence-based management: From theory to practice in health care’, The Milbank Quarterly, 79 (3), 429–457.
Willmott, H. (1993) ‘Strength is ignorance; slavery is freedom: Managing culture in modern organizations’, Journal of Management Studies, 30 (4), 515–552.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2008 Mark Learmonth
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Learmonth, M. (2008). Evidence-Based Management: The Power of Evidence or Evidence of Power?. In: McKee, L., Ferlie, E., Hyde, P. (eds) Organizing and Reorganizing. Organizational Behaviour in Health Care. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230583207_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230583207_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-36048-2
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-58320-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Business & Management CollectionBusiness and Management (R0)