Obtaining Data on Management Effectiveness

The literature on interventions designed to improve management effectiveness gives little attention to the methods of collecting data, and gives even less information about the reasons for choosing one method rather than another. This article defines the four main methods (questionnaires, interviews, group discussion and observation) and reviews the characteristics of each. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are summarised and the article ends with some views on the extent to which the client should be involved in choosing the method of data collection.