Professor Rousseau shares her thoughts on Firenze and the applicability of evidence based management. Here is an excerpt from the interview.

The Microsoft case is known for its emphasis on research so much so that

25% of the grading is based on the quality of research carried out. How should students go about researching when there is so much information out there?

The Microsoft case is a live and complex business problem. There is no clearly defined process for structuring the unstructured problem. Looking for a good solution begins with first making sense of the concepts. This can be done by thinking of alternative ways of defining the question. The next step is to develop a logic model - define the outputs, inputs and process. The process of developing the logic model will help you think about what you need to know and what you need not know before you can arrive at a solution. Once you know what you need to know, you can go about searching for the information.

What is the best way to search for information?

The most important thing is for students to know how to separate the wheat from the chaff. There is a lot of data out there! It is necessary to synthesize this data into something that is directly usable - knowledge. The best way to go about doing this is to ask! Pointer knowledge – knowing people who may be the experts in the field of your interest or who may know people who are experts - can be very powerful. Reference librarians can help you look for information applying effective search techniques. They can also help you get good quality, peer reviewed evidence. Carnegie Mellon students are fortunate to have access to an exhaustive repository of electronic databases and reference books - they should leverage that! People in general, also tend to underestimate the power of public libraries and the vast amount of information that can be accessed through them.

How do you envision a case like this adding value to students?

Students today are inundated with data and information. It is becoming increasingly important, for students especially, to develop mindful ways of sifting through this data and assimilating the information it conveys. A case like this enables students to become more aware of the rich repository they can tap into once they know how to search and link seemingly unrelated topics. Couple this with good problem solving strategy and you've got a budding evidence based manager.

Any other advice that you would like to give to students in general and particularly current/future participants of the case competition?

Yes. Think outside the box. Do not confine yourself to thinking of solutions only within your industry. There seems to be a general tendency for people to assume that because they are in one particular industry/business, only experiences and data gathered in that particular industry/business will be relevant. It is important to remember that there are many aspects of the problems that can be generalizable. Think of these generalizable aspects in different categories. It is not unusual to see that new ideas and innovation can sometimes stem from dressing up an old idea in a new role.

Professor Denise Rousseau is a H. J. Heinz II Professor of Organizational Behavior and Public Policy, H. J. Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management. Her research and teaching interests primarily lie in Evidence based management and decision making in addition to psychological contracts in organizations, idiosyncratic deals and workplace flexibility, changing employment relations, human resource management and strategy, organizational culture and performance, and multilevel research methodologies.