In 1998, McKinsey - the United States' largest and most prestigious consulting firm - wanted to...

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In 1998, McKinsey - the United States' largest and most prestigious consulting firm - wanted to examine how the top-performing companies differed from other firms. For this purpose, they surveyed and interviewed thousands of managers across the country. When the three consultants who headed the project sifted through the results, they noticed a pattern. To win in business, they concluded, companies must find and hire as many top performers as possible, and then promote their most talented people aggressively. In 2001 the consultants published their insights in a book entitled The War for Talent, in which 27 companies were presented as best practices in the industry. Within five years, however, most of these best practices had either disappeared or reported disastrous profitability and investment returns. One of these companies was Enron, considered by McKinsey to be the ultimate 'talent' company. It came to light that Enron's top executives had lied about its profits and had used very clever- seeming but illegal practices to increase revenues. As a result, the company's shares plummeted in value, and, in December 2001, a few months after the publication of McKinsey's book, Enron filed the largest bankruptcy in US history, leaving tens of thousands unemployed and with worthless stock in their pensions. Question 8: What kind of evidence described in this case? How would you go about judging the trustworthiness of such evidence? In 1998, McKinsey - the United States' largest and most prestigious consulting firm - wanted to examine how the top-performing companies differed from other firms. For this purpose, they surveyed and interviewed thousands of managers across the country. When the three consultants who headed the project sifted through the results, they noticed a pattern. To win in business, they concluded, companies must find and hire as many top performers as possible, and then promote their most talented people aggressively. In 2001 the consultants published their insights in a book entitled The War for Talent, in which 27 companies were presented as best practices in the industry. Within five years, however, most of these best practices had either disappeared or reported disastrous profitability and investment returns. One of these companies was Enron, considered by McKinsey to be the ultimate 'talent' company. It came to light that Enron's top executives had lied about its profits and had used very clever- seeming but illegal practices to increase revenues. As a result, the company's shares plummeted in value, and, in December 2001, a few months after the publication of McKinsey's book, Enron filed the largest bankruptcy in US history, leaving tens of thousands unemployed and with worthless stock in their pensions. Question 8: What kind of evidence described in this case? How would you go about judging the trustworthiness of such evidence?