Scientific mindset in business?

At the Autonomous University of Barcelona, ​​Professor Salvador Cardús used to begin his epistemology classes with a revealing exercise. He asked his students to write an article analyzing a recent media phenomenon, such as a shooting at a school in the United States. Invariably, most of the students fell into the same trap: drawing grandiloquent conclusions about youth violence, bullying or the proliferation of weapons. But the lesson came later, when Cardús explained that, however shocking the news, episodes like that were not repeated even once a year throughout the world. So it could not be considered a sociological phenomenon with collective roots, but rather the manifestation of an individual pathology, which had to be limited to the psychological dimension. In other words: one had to avoid confusing the exception with the rule.

This academic exercise contains a lesson that is also fundamental for business management. When a problem arises in an organization, the first step is to clearly determine whether its nature is individual or cultural. Because individual problems are always linked to very specific people, who may have a great capacity for resonance, but who in no case represent the collective essence. On the contrary, cultural problems are those that are repeated in a systemic and transversal way, because they usually have their origin in corporate pillars such as processes, policies or leadership. Therefore, failing in this initial diagnosis of the problem leads directly to proposing ineffective solutions, as happened to the poor aspiring sociologists.

The most common mistake in business management is to act on the symptoms and not on the causes

In fact, once it has been determined whether the problem is organisational or individual, the next step is to determine whether it is of a temporary or structural nature. Because there are difficulties that are limited in time and associated with specific circumstances (such as a peak in work due to a one-off unforeseen event) but there are others that are characterised by their persistence and roots (such as a lack of interdepartmental coordination). This basic difference helps to understand whether the problem must be tackled from a purely adaptive perspective or as a fundamental transformation.

To complete the analysis of business challenges, there is a third classification that divides them between operational and strategic. As the name suggests, the former affect daily execution and are usually resolved at the technical level, but the latter compromise long-term viability, which requires modifying the tactical level (or even the business model). In any case, focusing efforts at the right level is again crucial to obtaining the expected results.

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And what is the great secret to overcome this triple filter and diagnose problems reliably? Well, in reality there are two essential keys: dedicating time and having a scientific mentality. Because the most common mistake in business management is to act on the visible symptoms (the consequences) and not on the underlying roots (the causes). In this sense, it is highly advisable to invoke those teachings of Professor Salvador Cardús, since they remind us that what is striking is not always representative, that prescribing painkillers does not cure everything, and that there is no worse waste of time than trying to change the world when all that is needed is to adjust a chair.