Strategies for Teaching Evidence-Based Management

Abstract

Evidence-based management (EBMgt) is a growing literature stream in management education which contends that management decision making should be informed by the best available scientific evidence (Rousseau, 2006). Encouraged by the success of evidence-based practice in the field of medicine, advocates of EBMgt have increasingly called for management educators to develop graduates into evidence-based practitioners who—like physicians—value and use evidence in their daily practice in organizations. In this essay, we contribute to these debates by exploring three strategies that are used in medicine to train physicians to engage with evidence: embedding the normative foundation of evidence in problem-solving routines, role modelling being a reflective research consumer, and creating teachable moments through lived experience of research. We consider whether and how these strategies can be adapted to inform teaching the teaching of EBMgt. Drawing on these insights from physician training, we suggest a range of methods and techniques that management educators can implement in their teaching to facilitate student learning about evidence-based practice. We also consider the challenge of developing evidence-based cultures in organizations.