What are management ‘facts’?

It’s hard to argue that management policy and practice should not be evidence-based, but what is a management ‘fact’? If management facts are to the backbone of evidence-base management and practice, this is a question that needs to be thought about more carefully.

Evidence-based management is grounded in on the premise that the facts speak for themselves. The brute force of fact is such that decision-making and practice become clearer. The more facts the clearer it becomes. This is not my experience.

The phrase ‘lies, lies and damn statistics’ tells us that it is the selection and arrangement of facts that is central. The facts are dead without context or theory. It is the way we select, arrange, sequence and provide the context for facts that influence policy and practice. This is what informs management policy and practice. Managers are not collectors of facts, they are evaluators of facts and creators of actionable theories.

In playing that role, managers implicitly decide what a fact is and what it is not. They decide both validity and weight. They decide how new information is collected. They decide how it is deployed. The manager and the fact are inseparable.

Consequently, facts can only be appreciated by understanding the disposition and intent of the manager. So, before considering the facts as they are presented, consider the intentions and motivations of those presenting the facts. What has been included? What has been left out? What has been glossed over? What are the biases of those presenting the facts?

There are too many glib ‘facts’ running wild in management policy and practice. The utter strangeness of the conversation on generational differences provides ample insight. In the generational conversation improbable ‘facts’ are wrapped in a compelling story that is subsequently retold and polished in the echo-chamber as truth. Time poor managers looking for ways to make a difference are confronted with a ‘generational crisis’ that requires immediate action. The evidence of the need for action has always been slim.

The fads of management are legion. Within each fad extravagant interpretation consistently work to limit questioning. Fads push aside common sense and facts alike.

In the world of work facts are vast, slippery and dynamic. We only catch what we are looking for (and even then only sometimes), sometimes we catch the unexpected, and at other times our efforts to catch the facts change them.

There is an enormous amount of information available to us, and if we were to look hard and selectively, support for almost any management proposition can emerge from the roiling mass of management facts.

The challenge is to be theory-led rather than data-led in developing evidence based management policy and practice. Leave behind the fascination for what the available data might tell you and put the issues, the people, and the organisation to centre stage.

Most importantly, remember that the manager and the facts are essential to one another. The manager without the facts is an ineffectual drifter; the facts without the manager are empty irrelevancies. So, what are management facts?

They are the result of constant interaction between the manager and the world of work. Facts are inputs to and arise from the continuous interaction between manager, the workplace, and the workforce. This is an interaction that draws on the past, lives in the present and has an eye to the future. It is an unrelenting effort at continuous improvement in which facts are a means not an end.

The manager, the facts and the context of the workplace are inseparable. Consequently, management facts, as they are often portrayed, do not sit outside this relationship. Management facts are not golden fruit to be plucked from the tree of knowledge and drawn into the world of work by an all-knowing manager. It is far messier, confusing and dangerous than that. And, it has always been thus.

Are managers impotent to take action? No, they are central to making a difference. But the ability to make a difference does not arise from the independent power of management facts heralded by a ‘guru’ in the most recent management magazine. Rather, it comes from the manager’s skill in evaluating and applying the best evidence available to them, while remaining cognisant of their own biases. It recognises that managers don’t solve problems; instead, they find the path to a solution using all the resources available to them.

This management lark is no easy task.