Vaughan has, unsurprisingly, found no randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on “management techniques.” I say “unsurprisingly” because effective management of people in a work setting is not something that has been studied in that manner, since that’s not how researchers conduct studies in all fields and disciplines.

Not to say there isn’t research in this area, because, of course, there is. There’s an entire field of study called industrial and organizational psychology that studies how psychology works in organizations and business.

So I think it’s a bit unfair holding this field up to another field’s gold standard. Sociologists also generally don’t employ RCTs, nor do epidemiologists. Does that make their science any less valuable, legitimate, or useful? Of course not. These fields also offer evidence-based research, it’s just that their evidence is based upon something other than a RCT.

While I sympathize with the feeling that a lot of “management techniques” are nothing more than pop psychology repositioned for business use, you’re not going to win friends or influence people by suggesting their techniques are grounded in bs. I guess it really depends on what you’re looking to get out of a job or a career…

Read the full enty, In search of evidence-based bulls–t over at Mind Hacks.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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