Psychological Distress in Employees

How EBM Contributes to your Success as a ManagerIn an early study of how the adoption of an evidence-based practice of management influences employee perceptions of managers, researchers found that the approach itself leads to a number of positive outcomes (Jepsen and Rousseau, 2016).The study addressed some basic, yet important questions:· Are subordinates aware of their manager’s use of evidence?· What impact does the use of evidence by a manager have on an organisation and its members?· Does the use of evidence by a manager have any impact on interpersonal constructs such as trust?Previous research has found that employees are a significant conduit for evidence-based management given their role in supporting the decisions of their manager and implementing those same decisions. The existing research literature suggests that when subordinates become aware of their manager’s use of evidence, their perception of the manager is affected. Specifically, a manager who pays attention to evidence quality in making decisions is likely to be viewed by subordinates as fair and trustworthy (Schoorman, Mayer, & Davis, 2007). When employees know that their manager uses evidence in making decisions they are likely to be able to access the same information in order to validate the decision and determine the integrity of the manager’s actions, should they chose to do so. Indeed, the employee may have been responsible for collecting and collating the information on behalf of the manager.Imagine for a moment that you are the employee who was responsible for collating an information report, using the best-available evidence, to support a managerial decision making process.How would you feel if this report was used to support a major decision with a high probability of positive outcomes?How would you feel if this report was ignored?In a study with 274 employees in a healthcare setting, researchers Denise Jepsen and Denise Rousseau found that the perceived use and sharing of evidence by a manger with their team has been found to (Jepsen & Rousseau, 2016):1. Increase trust in the manager2. Reduce psychological distress in employees3. Enhance work-based learning4. Increase perceptions of the quality of the workplace and services/products providedThis study provides evidence about some effects of evidence use. It helps us to understand the benefits of an evidence-based practice of management by identifying ways evidence use can enhance employees’ workplace experiences. The study also shows that that managerial use of evidence may play a significant role in the relationship between managers and their employees.Contemporary managers operate in information-rich environments, and in circumstances that are increasingly complex, ambiguous and uncertain. How managers in the future make use of the evidence available to them may well be a powerful and influential leadership quality in itself.