ABSTRACT
Evidence-based means that your decisions should, as far as possible, be based on evidence. The idea that this matters comes from evidence-based medicine. It is easy to see why evidence-based medicine is increasingly accepted as the right way to practise medicine. As patients, we want our doctors to use the best evidence on the treatment of particular diseases. But are the same ideas relevant to management? I found this question intriguing. I wrote an article about evidence-based management for the Health Service Journal in 1998 and went on thinking about the answer to the question. My conclusion is that the ideas are useful for managers because it is a desir able way of thinking, but that it is more difficult to practise evidence-based management than evidence-based medicine.
