The narrative of 'evidence based' management: A polemic

Journal of Management Studies

Volumn 45, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 613-635

  Morrell, Kevin ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 42249109403     PISSN: 00222380     EISSN: 14676486     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2007.00755.x     Document Type: Article

References (137)

1. Abrahamson, E. Fairchild, G. (1999 Management fashion: lifecycles, triggers, and collective learning processes Administrative Science Quarterly, 44, 708 40.
2. Acar, W., Keating, R. J., Aupperle, K. E., Hall, W. W. Engdahl, R. A. (2003 Peering at the past century's corporate strategy through the looking glass of time-series analysis: extrapolating from Chandler's classic mid-century American firms? Journal of Management Studies, 40, 1225 54.
3. AIR (American Institute for Research) (2007). Having an impact. (accessed on 25 April 2007).
4. Allen C. (2003 Desperately seeking fusion: on "joined-up thinking", "holistic practice" and the new economy of welfare professional power British Journal of Sociology, 54, 287 306.
5. Alvesson, M. Karreman, D. (2000 Varieties of discourse: on the study of organizations through discourse analysis Human Relations, 53, 1125 49.
6. Alvesson, M. Sveningsson, S. (2003 Good visions, bad micro-management and ugly ambiguity: contradictions of non-leadership in a knowledge-intensive organization Organization Studies, 24, 961 88.
7. Any, C. (1990 Boris Eikhenbaum in OPOIAZ: testing the limits of the work-centered poetics Slavic Studies, 49, 409 26.
8. Aristotle (350 BCE). Rhetoric. Trans. W. R. Roberts. http://classics.mit. edu/Aristotle/ (accessed on 25 April 2007).
9. Ashkanasy, N. M. (2007 From the editor: Evidence-based inquiry, learning and education: what are the pros and cons? Academy of Management Learning, 6, 5 8.
10. Astley, W. G. Zammuto, R. (1992 Organization science, managers, and language games Organization Science, 3, 443 60.
11. Barry, D. Elmes, M. (1997 Strategy retold: toward a narrative view of strategic discourse Academy of Management Review, 22, 429 52.
12. Benjamin, O. Goclaw, R. (2005 Narrating the power of non-standard employment: the case of the Israeli public sector Journal of Management Studies, 42, 737 59.
13. Bennett, T. (1989). Formalism and Marxism. London : Routledge.
14. Beyer, J. M. Trice, H. M. (1982 The utilization process: a conceptual framework and synthesis of empirical findings Administrative Science Quarterly, 27, 591 622.
15. Boaz, A., Ashby, D. Young, K. (2002). Systematic Reviews: What Have They Got to Offer Evidence Based Policy and Practice? Working Paper 2. ESRC UK Centre for Evidence Based Policy and Practice.
16. Boje, D. M. (1991 The storytelling organization: a study of story performance Administrative Science Quarterly, 36, 106 26.
17. Bornstein, R. F. (1990 Publication politics, experimenter bias and the replication process in social science research Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 5, 71 81.
18. Bradley, H., Erickson M., Stephenson C. Williams, S. (2000). Myths at Work. London : Polity.
19. Campbell Collaboration (2007). http://www.campbellcollaboration.org/ (accessed on 25 April 2007).
20. CEP (Coalition for Evidence-based Policy) (2007). http://coexgov. securesites.net/index (accessed on 25 April 2007).
21. Chreim, S. (2005 The continuity-change duality in narrative texts of organizational identity Journal of Management Studies, 42, 567 93.
22. Clark, T. (2004 Guest editor's introduction Journal of Management Studies, 41, 367 76.
23. Cole, S. (1983 The hierarchy of the sciences? American Journal of Sociology, 89, 111 39.
24. Craig, G. (2003). What Works in Community Development with Children? Summary. London : Barnardos.
25. Davies, H. T. O., Nutley, S. M. Smith, P. C. (2000). What Works? Evidence Based Policy and Pratice in Public Services. Bristol : The Policy Press.
26. Dennett, D. C. (1991). Consciousness Explained. London : Penguin.
27. Denyer, D. Neely, A. (2004 Introduction to special issue: Innovation and productivity performance in the UK International Journal of Management Reviews, 5-6, 131 5.
28. Denzin, N. K. Giardina, M. D. (Eds 2006). Qualitative Inquiry and the Conservative Challenge: Contesting Methodological Fundamentalism. Walnut Creek, CA : Left Coast Press.
29. Dixon-Woods, M., Agarwal, S., Young, B., Jones, D. Sutton, A. (2004). Integrative Approaches to Qualitative and Quantitative Evidence. London : NICE.
30. Donaldson, L. (1996 The normal science of structural contingency theory In Clegg, S., Hardy, C. Nord, R. (Eds Handbook of Organization Studies. Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage, 57 77.
31. Dopson, S. (2006 Why does knowledge stick? What we can learn from the case of evidence-based health care Public Money & Management, 26, 85 6.
32. Eden, D. (2002 Replication, meta-analysis, scientific progress and AMJ's publication policy Academy of Management Journal, 45, 841 6.
33. Ellaway, A., Macintyre, S. Kearns, A. (2001 Perceptions of place and health in socially contrasting neighbourhoods Urban Studies, 38, 2299 316.
34. Erlich, V. (1980). Russian Formalism: History - Doctrine, 4th edition. New York : Mouton.
35. Espeland, W. N. Stevens, M. L. (1998 Commensuration as a social process Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 313 43.
36. Evans, J. Benefield, P. (2001 Systematic reviews of educational research: does the medical model fit? British Educational Research Journal, 27, 527 41.
37. Evans D. Pearson A. (2001 Systematic reviews: gatekeepers of nursing knowledge Journal of Clinical Nursing, 10, 593 9.
38. Evidence Network (2007). http://www.evidencenetwork.org/mission.html (accessed on 30 November 2007).
39. Fairclough, N. (1995). Critical Discourse Analysis. London : Longman.
40. Ferraro, F., Pfeffer, J. Sutton, R. I. (2005 Economics language and assumptions: how theories can become self-fulfilling Academy of Management Review, 30, 8 24.
41. Fitzgerald, L., Ferlie, E., Wood, M. Hawkins, C. (2002 Interlocking interactions: the diffusion of innovations in health care Human Relations, 55, 1429 50.
42. Foucault, M. (1980 Truth and power In Gordon, C. (Ed Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977. New York : Pantheon, 109 33.
43. Foucault, M. (2002). The Archaeology of Knowledge. London : Routledge.
44. Fox, N. J. (2003 Practice-based evidence: towards collaborative and transgressive research Sociology, 37, 81 102.
45. Gabriel, Y. (2000). Storytelling in Organizations: Facts, Fictions, Fantasies. Oxford : Oxford University Press.
46. Gabriel, Y. Griffiths, D. S. (2004 Stories in organizational research In Cassell, C. Symon, G. (Eds Essential Guide to Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research. London : Sage, 114 26.
47. Gartrell, C. D. Gartrell, A. W. (2002 Positivism in sociological research: USA and UK (1966-1990) British Journal of Sociology, 53, 639 57.
48. Ghoshal, S. (2005 Bad management theories are destroying good management practices Academy of Management Learning and Education, 4, 75 91.
49. Giddens, A. (1984). The Constitution of Society. Cambridge : Polity Press.
50. Giroux, H. (2006 "It was such a handy term": management fashions and pragmatic ambiguity Journal of Management Studies, 43, 1227 60.
51. Glass, G. V. (2000). Meta-Analysis at 25. http://glass.ed.asu.edu/gene/ papers/meta25.html (accessed on 9 January 2003).
52. Greatbatch, D. Clark, T. (2003 Humour and laughter in the public lectures of management gurus Human Relations, 56, 1515 44.
53. Green, S. E. (2004 A rhetorical theory of diffusion Academy of Management Review, 29, 653 69.
54. Greenfeld, L. (1987 Russian formalist sociology of literature: a sociologist's perspective Slavic Studies, 46, 35 58.
55. Greenhalgh, T. Russell, J. (2007). Reframing Evidence Synthesis as Rhetorical Action in the Policy Making Drama. http://www.evidencescience.org/ (accessed on 25 April 2007).
56. Greenhalgh, T., Toon, P., Russell, J., Wong, G., Plumb, L. Macfarlane, F. (2003 Transferability of principles of evidence based medicine to improve educational quality: systematic review and case study of an online course in primary health care British Medical Journal, 326, 142 5.
57. Guest, D. King, Z. (2004 Power, innovation and problem-solving: the personnel manager's three steps to heaven Journal of Management Studies, 41, 401 23.
58. Haas, P. M. (1989 Do regimes matter? Epistemic communities and evolving policies to control Mediterranean pollution International Organization, 43, 377 403.
59. Hammersley, M. (2001 On "systematic" reviews of research literatures: a "narrative" response to Evans and Benefield British Educational Research Journal, 27, 543 54.
60. Heidegger, M. (1973). Being and Time, Trans. J. MacQuarrie and E. Robinson. Oxford : Blackwell Publishing.
61. Hendrick, C. (1991 Replications, strict replications, and conceptual replications: are they important? In Neuliep, J. (Ed Replication Research in the Social Sciences. London : Sage, 41 9.
62. Hewison, A. (2004 Evidence-based management in the NHS: is it possible? Journal of Health Organization and Management, 18, 336 48.
63. Holinshead, G., Nicholls, P. Tailby, S. (1999). Employee Relations. London : Pitman.
64. Hope, T. (2004 Pretend it works: evidence and governance in the evaluation of the Reducing Burglary Initiative Criminal Justice, 4, 287 308.
65. Hubbard, R., Vetter, D. E. Little, E. L. (1998 Replication in strategic management: scientific testing for validity, generalisability and usefulness Strategic Management Journal, 19, 243 54.
66. Huxley, A. (1947). Science, Liberty and Peace. London : Chatto and Windus.
67. IAQI (International Association of Qualitative Inquiry) (2006). Newsletter. http://www.c4qi.org/IAQINewsletter01_06.pdf (accessed on 26 April 2007).
68. Keenoy, T. (1999 HRM as hologram: a polemic Journal of Management Studies, 36, 1 23.
69. Kelly, M., Swann, C., Killoran, A., Naidoo, B., Barnett-Paige, E. Morgan, A. (2002). Methodological Problems in Constructing the Evidence Base in Public Health. London : NICE.
70. Kuhn, T. S. (1962). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago, IL : University of Chicago Press.
71. Ladi, S. (2005). Globalisation, Policy Transfer and Policy Research Institutes. Cheltenham : Edward Elgar.
72. 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, 1089 91.
73. Learmonth, M. Harding, N. (2006 Evidence-based management: the very idea Public Administration, 84, 245 66.
74. Legge, K. (1995 HRM: rhetoric, reality and hidden agendas In Storey, J. (Ed Human Resource Management: A Critical Text. London : Thomson, 33 9.
75. Leseure, M. J., Bauer, J., Kamal, B., Neely, A. Denyer, D. (2004 Adoption of promising practices: a systematic review of the evidence International Journal of Management Reviews, 5-6, 169 90.
76. Lewis, M. Hartley, J. (2001 Evolving forms of quality management in local government: lessons from the best value pilot programme Policy and Politics, 29, 477 96.
77. Lewis, M. W. Kelemen, M. (2002 Multiparadigm inquiry: exploring organizational pluralism and paradox Human Relations, 55, 251 75.
78. Locke, S. (2001 Sociology and the public understanding of science: from rationalization to rhetoric British Journal of Sociology, 52, 1 18.
79. Lyotard, J-F. (1984). The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, Manchester : Manchester University Press.
80. Majone, G. (1989). Evidence, Argument and Persuasion in the Policy Process. New Haven, CT : Yale University Press.
81. Mauws, M. K. Phillips, N. (1995 Understanding language games Organization Science, 6, 322 34.
82. McGrath, J. E. (1982 Dilemmatics: the study of research choices and dilemmas In McGrath, J. E., Martin, J. Kulka, R. (Eds Judgement Calls in Research. London : Sage, 69 102.
83. McKinley, W., Mone, W. A. Moon, G. (1999 Determinants and development of schools in organization theory Academy of Management Review, 24, 634 48.
84. McLaughlin, J. (2001 EBM and risk: rhetorical resources in the articulation of professional identity Journal of Management in Medicine, 15, 352 63.
85. McMullen, J. S. Shepherd, D. A. (2006 Encouraging consensus-challenging research in universities Journal of Management Studies, 43, 1643 69.
86. Merton, R. K. (1948 The self-fulfilling prophecy Antioch Review, 8, 193 210.
87. Minzberg, H. (1973). The Nature of Managerial Work. New York : Harper and Row.
88. Mitchell, T. R. James, L. R. (2001 Building better theory; time and the specification of when things happen Academy of Management Review, 26, 530 47.
89. Mone, M. A. McKinley, W. (1993 The uniqueness value and its consequences for organizational studies Journal of Management Inquiry, 2, 284 96.
90. Morrell, K. (2004 Decision making and business ethics: the implications of using image theory in preference to rational choice Journal of Business Ethics, 50, 239 52.
91. Morrell, K. (2006a Policy as narrative: New Labour's reform of the National Health Service Public Administration, 84, 367 85.
92. Morrell, K. (2006b Aphorisms and leaders' rhetoric: a new analytical approach Leadership, 2, 367 82.
93. Mueller, F. Carter, C. (2005 The scripting of total quality management within its organizational biography Organization Studies, 26, 221 47.
94. Mulrow, C. D. Cook, D. J. (1997 Systematic reviews: Critical links in the great chain of evidence Annals of Internal Medicine, 126, 389 91.
95. Neuliep, J. W. (Ed 1991). Replication Research in the Social Sciences. London : Sage.
96. Nowotny, H., Scott, P. Gibbons, M. (2001). Re-thinking Science: Knowledge and the Public in an Age of Uncertainty. Cambridge : Polity Press.
97. Nutley, S. M., Walter, I. Davies, H. T. O. (2003 From knowing to doing: a framework for understanding the evidence-into-practice agenda Evaluation, 9, 124 48.
98. Ofori-Dankwa, J. Julian, S. D. (2005 From thought to theory to school: the role of contextual factors in the evolution of schools of management thought Organization Studies, 26, 1307 29.
99. Onega, S. Landa, J. A. G. (Eds 1996). Narratology. Harlow : Longman.
100. Osigweh, C. A. B. (1989 Concept fallibility in organizational science Academy of Management Review, 14, 579 94.
101. Oswick, C., Keenoy, T. W. Grant, D. (2000 Discourse, organizations and organizing: concepts, objects and subjects Human Relations, 53, 1115 23.
102. Pawson, R. (2001). The Promise of a Realist Synthesis. Working Paper 2. ESRC UK Centre for Evidence Based Policy and Practice.
103. Pawson, R. (2002). Does Megan's Law Work? A Theory-Driven Systematic Review. Working Paper 8. ESRC UK Centre for Evidence Based Policy and Practice.
104. Pawson, R. (2006). Evidence-Based Policy: A Realist Perspective. London : Sage.
105. Petticrew, M. (2001 Systematic reviews from astronomy to zoology: myths and misconceptions British Medical Journal, 322, 98 101.
106. Petticrew, M. (2003 Why certain systematic reviews reach uncertain conclusions British Medical Journal, 326, 756 8.
107. Pettigrew, A. M. (1997 The double hurdles for management research In Clark, T. (Ed Advancement in Organisational Behaviour: Essays in Honour of D. S. Pugh. London : Dartmouth Press, 227 96.
108. Pfeffer, J. (1993 Barriers to the advance of organizational science: paradigm development as a dependent variable Academy of Management Review, 18, 599 620.
109. Pfeffer, J. (1995 Mortality, reproducibility and the persistence of styles of theory Organization Science, 6, 681 6.
110. Pfeffer, J. (2007). Evidence-Based Management Practice. http://www.evidence-basedmanagement.com/index.html (accessed on 25 April 2007).
111. Pfeffer, J. Sutton, R. I. (2006). Hard facts, Dangerous Halftruths, and Total Nonsense. Boston, MA : Harvard Business School Press.
112. Pittaway, L., Robertson, M., Munir, K., Denyer, D. Neely, A. D. (2004). Networking and Innovation in the UK: A Systematic Review of the Literature. London : London Business School, Advanced Institute of Management Research.
113. Potter, J. Wetherell, M. (1987). Discourse and Social Psychology. London : Sage.
114. Rousseau, D. M. (2006 Is there such a thing as evidence-based management? Academy of Management Review, 31, 256 9.
115. Rousseau, D. M. McCarthy, S. (2007 Educating managers from an evidence-based perspective Academy of Management Learning & Education, 6, 84 101.
116. Rudrum, D. (2005 From narrative representation to narrative use: towards the limits of definition Narrative, 13, 195 204.
117. Sackett, D. L., Rosenberg, W. M., Gray, J. A. M., Haynes, R. B. Richardson, W. S. (1996 Evidence based medicine: what it is and what it isn't British Medical Journal, 312, 71 2.
118. Sartre, J-P. (1996). Being and Nothingness. Trans. H. Barnes. London : Routledge.
119. Sayer, A. (1992). Method in Social Science: A Realist Approach. London : Routledge.
120. Solesbury, W. (2002 The ascendancy of evidence Planning Theory and Practice, 3, 90 6.
121. Starkey, K. (2001 In defence of modes one, two and three: a response British Journal of Management, 12, S77 80.
122. Steiner, P. (1984). Russian Formalism: A Metapoetics. London : Cornell.
123. Stubbs, M. (1983). Discourse Analysis: The Sociolinguistic Analysis of Natural Language. Oxford : Blackwell Publishing.
124. Tenbensel, T. (2004 The implications of explicit priority-setting in New Zealand's health policy and evidence-based policy Policy Studies, 25, 189 208.
125. Tester, M. (2003 GM's bitter harvest Times Higher Educational Supplement, 1, 612
126. Science against modernism: the relevance of the social theory of Michael Polanyi British Journal of Sociology, 52, 19 35.
127. Tranfield, D., Denyer D. Smart P. (2003 Towards a methodology for developing evidence-informed management knowledge by means of systematic review British Journal of Management, 14, 207 22.
128. Tsang, E. W. K. Kwan, K. (1999 Replication and theory development in organizational science: a critical realist perspective Academy of Management Review, 24, 759 80.
129. Van Maanen, J. (1995 Style as theory Organization Science, 6, 133 43.
130. Walshe, K. Rundall, T. G. (2001 Evidence based management: from theory to practice in health care The Millbank Quarterly, 79, 429 57.
131. Watson, T. (1995 Rhetoric, discourse and argument in organisational sense-making: a reflexive tale Organization Studies, 16, 805 21.
132. Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in Organizations. London : Sage.
133. Weick, K. E. (1999 Theory construction as disciplined reflexivity: tradeoffs in the 90s Academy of Management Review, 24, 797 806.
134. Wittgenstein, L. (1953). Philosophical Investigations. Oxford : Blackwell Publishing.
135. WWC (What Works Clearinghouse) (2007). http://www.whatworks.ed.gov (accessed on 25 April 2007).
136. Young, K., Ashby, D., Boaz, A. Grayson, L. (2002 Social science and the evidence-based policy movement Social Policy and Society, 1, 215 24.
137. Zald, M. N. (1996 More fragmentation? Unfinished business in linking the social sciences and the humanities Administrative Science Quarterly, 41, 251 61.