Moneyball, the popular film adaptation of Michael Lewis’s book on baseball, provides an engaging vehicle for teaching evidence-based management and decision-making bias, two topics that students without prior work experience may struggle to grasp. This article provides clip-by-clip examples of probing questions that can be used to foster a robust in-class discussion of both topics. While many students may have watched the movie in its entirety, the recommended clips have served as an effective teaching tool for students with no prior knowledge of the movie.
BaumerB.ZimbalistA. (2014). The sabermetric revolution: Assessing the growth of analytics in baseball. University of Pennsylvania Press.
3.
BohnetI.Van GeenA.BazermanM. (2016). When performance trumps gender bias: Joint vs. separate evaluation. Management Science, 62(5), 1225-1234. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2015.2186
4.
CostaG. B.HuberM. R.SaccomanJ. T. (2019). Understanding sabermetrics: An introduction to the science of baseball statistics (2nd ed.). McFarland.
5.
DiAngeloR. (2018). White fragility: Why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism. Beacon Press.
6.
EdwardsG.SchedlitzkiD.WardJ.WoodM. (2015). Exploring critical perspectives of toxic and bad leadership through film. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 17(3), 363-375. https://doi.org/10.1177/1523422315587903
ForscherP. S.LaiC.AxtJ.EbersoleC. R.HermanM.DevineP. G.NosekB. A. (2016). A meta-analysis of change in implicit bias. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 117(3), 522-559. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000160
9.
HakesJ. K.SauerR. D. (2006). An economic evaluation of the Moneyball hypothesis. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20(3), 173-186. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.20.3.173
10.
LawK. (2017). Smart baseball: The story behind the old stats that are ruining the game, the new ones that are running it, and the right way to think about baseball. William Morrow.
11.
LeeV.LoA. (2014). From theory to practice: Teaching management using films through deductive and inductive processes. International Journal of Management Education, 12(1), 44-54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2013.05.001
12.
LewisM. (2003). Moneyball: The art of winning an unfair game. W. W. Norton.
13.
LindberghB.SawchikT. (2019). MVP Machine: How baseball’s new nonconformists are using data to build better players (1st ed.). Basic Books.
14.
MarrB. (2010). The intelligent company: Five steps to success with evidence-based management. John Wiley.
15.
MatthewsJ. R. (2011). Assessing organizational effectiveness: The role of performance measures. Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy, 81(1), 83-110. https://doi.org/10.1086/657447
16.
McHughP. P. (2009). “Batter up, student on deck”: The utility of Moneyball in management education. Journal of Management Education, 33(2), 219-238. https://doi.org/10.1177/1052562908321712
17.
MelfiT. (Director), CherninP.DanielJ.GigliottiD.HalloranK.LombardiI.MelfiT.QuinnK.ShetterleyM.L.ToppingJ.ValdesM.WilliamsP.WittR. (Producers). (2016). Hidden Figures [Motion Picture]. United States: Distributed by 20th Century Fox.
18.
MillerB. (Director), De LucaM.HorovitzR.PittB. (Producers). (2011). Moneyball [Motion picture]. United States: Distributed by Columbia Pictures.
19.
MischelL. J. (2019). Watch and learn? Using EDpuzzle to enhance the use of online videos. Management Teaching Review, 4(3), 283-289.
ReiterB. (2018). Astroball: The new way to win it all (1st ed.). Crown Archetype.
22.
RousseauD. M. (2018). Making evidence-based organizational decisions in an uncertain world. Organizational Dynamics, 47(3), 135-146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2018.05.001
23.
RynesS. L.ColbertA. E.O’BoyleE. H. (2018). When the “best available evidence” doesn’t win: How doubts about science and scientists threaten the future of evidence-based management. Journal of Management, 44(8), 2995-3010. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206318796934
24.
SilverN. (2012). The signal and the noise: Why so many predictions fail—but some don’t. Penguin Press.
25.
TsuiA. S.EganT. D.O’ReillyC. A.III. (1992). Being different: Relational demography and organizational attachment. Administrative Science Quarterly, 37(4), 549-579. https://doi.org/10.2307/2393472
