The Science and Superstition of Teams and Types, a talk by Drew Rae.

True or False:

Personality type is a significant predictor of performance in certain jobs?

Getting the mix of personality types right is important for team performance?

Good teams perform better than the best performing individual member of the team?

"Team Building" exercises improve team performance?

Changing the culture of an organisation changes its performance?

All of these ideas are currently being applied in the management of many organisations. At least one of the ideas is backed by solid theory that has been repeatedly tested. At least one of the ideas is in total conflict with the body of evidence in its parent field of study. This Skeptics in the Pub talk is about Management Science. More specifically, how much of management is "science", how much consists of interesting but untested ideas, and how much is in ignorance or conflict with the evidence base?

Dr Andrew Rae is a researcher and lecturer in the field of system safety engineering. Decomposing the discipline: - safety is about preventing accidents - engineering is about applying scientific principles to solve real-world problems - systems engineering is about engineering the process and organisation of engineering itself Drew is an engineer by training and inclination, but his attempts to apply science to organisations have led him into the murky world of sociology, where rigorous research design competes with pseudoscientific fads.

Drew is a regular speaker on the Skeptics in the Pub circuit, and speaker convenor for York Skeptics.

Book Club Meeting - The Rational Optimist, by Matt Ridley. 7.30pm in the Golden Fleece, York (upstairs function room).

Our annual BBQ.

Judaism - A talk by two members of York’s Jewish community, both with Orthodox backgrounds: Jerry Karlin, who is now a member of the Sinai Reform Synagogue in Leeds, and David Kennard, who is now a humanist.

When people talk about religion in Britain, they tend to speak about beliefs. Which, for Jews, is very odd. Belief is important, but for us religion is fundamentally about rituals, the things we do together as an expression of collective memory and shared ideals. (Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. Thought For the Day 22/3/13).

Our tombola stall at the Rowntree Park Birthday Party, 2pm to 5pm.

No meeting.

Prof. A C Grayling - The Roots and Fruits of Humanism

Anthony Grayling has written and edited over thirty books on philosophy and other subjects; among his most recent are "The God Argument", "The Good Book", "Ideas That Matter", "Liberty in the Age of Terror" and "To Set Prometheus Free".