In Search of Evidence

Becoming an Evidence-Based HR-Practitioner
pursuing greater flexibility in the face of unpredictable events (Weick and Sutcliffe,
2007).
At the same time, this environment contains a powerful means for building
capacity to address its highly demanding conditions. The explosion of knowledge
accessible via the Internet includes the broad accumulation of scientific research on
management and HR issues. We are the beneficiaries of over 65 years of post-World
War II management and social science research — a deep and broad body of evidence.
Lots of information (and knowledgeable people who can point practitioners to it) is
accessible, ranging from evidence summaries (Locke, 2009) to Internet-enabled
communities of practice (http://www.evidencebased-management.com).
Note that although scholars, educators and consultants provide essential support,
EBHR remains something only practitioners actually do. If you are an HR practitioner,
your willingness to become involved, innovate and share what you learn in becoming
an EBHR practitioner is a key stepping stone in this initiative.
THE PRACTICE OF EVIDENCE-BASED HR
The basic steps for becoming an evidence-based manager fall into three phases: (a)
getting started, (b) everyday practice and learning, and (c) integrating EBHR in the
organisation. These steps reflect the critical activities today’s evidence-informed
practitioners are engaged in and form the basis of training programmes and courses in
evidence-based management.
It starts with your mind
A practitioner interested in the idea of EBHR has lots of options for what he or she
could do differently as a result of adopting it as a standard practice. Some people are
drawn to an idea they have read about, like the people who started holding their
group meetings standing up after Pfeffer and Sutton (2006) reported that Chevron
used this ‘evidence-based practice’ to make meetings shorter and more efficient.
Picking up a new idea and trying it out, however, is not in itself evidence-based
practice. It is more like a ‘flavour of the month’ approach because the decision making
behind the use of the new practice does not take into account what is likely to work in
that particular organisation. This kind of faddish adoption is not what we consider to
be EBHR practice. It is more like an old wine in a new bottle. Instead, a more mindfully
engaged way to get started is to first come to understand what evidence- based
practice really is; then, do the critical thinking — with a questioning mindset — that
acting on evidence requires.