Neil D. Walshe – School of Management, University of San Francisco & Rob B. Briner – School of Management, University of Bath
Faculty reactions (and resistance) to the teaching of Evidence Based Management
Overview Class Content and Structure
EBMgt students contacted their future professors asking what evidence base they would be drawing upon in their forthcoming class and to what extent support and source materials would be provided. EBMgt students also contacted past professors asking them for clarification, confirmation and provision of evidence from past classes which supported the conclusions drawn. The EBMgt instructors were contacted by faculty who expressed concern at the volume of inquiries relating to the “evidence” ¡behind ¡their ¡specific ¡classes ¡was ¡being ¡questioned
Origins of Faculty Reactions and Resistance
Students of EBMgt appear to be empowered to question professors, current and past, about their views and commitment to evidence in the classroom. Educators, be they supporters of evidence-based practice or not, are gatekeepers to academic curricula. Their influence should not be discounted. There appears to be the potential for faculty to be fearful of both “evidence” ¡and ¡“evidence ¡based ¡management”. ¡ The principle basis for these fears appear to stem from a belief that EBMgt:
- Is a threat to the idea of academic freedom
- Is purely academic issue that has little or no relevance to
students involved in the practice of management
- is the enemy of innovation, creativity and the process of
intellectual interpretation (for students).
- Is difficult to do, time consuming and outside of the
traditional academic role.
Conclusions
The field of Evidence-Based Management may need to pay greater attention towards the specific education of faculty in management
- schools. Efforts may need to be directed towards informing educators on:
(a) The specific motivations and goals of Evidence-Based Management (b) The potential benefits (and limitations!) of an evidence-based practice within the field of management education. (c) The extent to which evidence-based practice is present not just in
- ther fields of practice but in other academic disciplines (e.g. it is not
“new”)
Implications
- Faculty reactions (and resistance) to teaching EBMgt
Faculty resistence to the inclusion of EBMgt in the curriculum were driven by the following perceptions:
- “EBMgt ¡is ¡an ¡academic ¡construct ¡which ¡has ¡no ¡relevance ¡or ¡
practicality to graduate student populations (MBA/ExecMBA)”
- “That ¡faculty already ¡do ¡use ¡“evidence” ¡in ¡the ¡way ¡of ¡
“research”
- “EBMgt ¡is ¡a ¡fad ¡and ¡has ¡little ¡evidence ¡behind ¡it”
- “That ¡EBMgt ¡/ ¡EBP ¡is ¡too ¡new ¡a ¡concept ¡to ¡include ¡in ¡
curriculum”
- “That ¡the ¡inference ¡of ¡EBMgt ¡is ¡that ¡everything ¡else ¡is ¡not ¡
evidence ¡based”
- “It ¡is ¡too ¡difficult ¡to ¡produce ¡sources ¡for ¡eveything we ¡teach”
- “EBMgt ¡is ¡limiting ¡the ¡scope ¡for ¡me ¡as ¡an ¡instructor ¡to ¡apply ¡
my ¡experience ¡to ¡theory ¡and ¡research”
- “Management ¡is art, not science. Evidence is about black and
white, true and false. That's not how management education
- perates. You can't teach that”
- “EBMgt ignores instructor experience and intuition in the
- classroom. It leaves the professor outside the door. People
want a classroom to be a place where experiences are shared, not just facts”
- “Cal, ¡Stanford ¡or ¡LSE ¡aren't doing it so why should we?”
Rationale for Resistance
The 2 unit elective class (24 contact hours) taught the principles of evidence-based practice and introduced students to the construct of evidence-based management. Spread across 6 consecutive weeks, the class asked students to engage in a systematic review process and produce a critically appraised topic (CAT) on a topic of their choice. Since the class was taken principally by second year students, many explored topics which they had already covered in previous classes or which had specific relevance to their existing or anticipated occupational sphere. This poster examines faculty reactions and resistance to the inclusion of a dedicated graduate class on Evidence-Based Management (EBMgt) at a US School of Management. The aim of this poster is to outline the origins and consequences of such a resistance in order to better understand why EBMgt is perceived in a negative light by many management faculty. It is hoped that by fostering a better understating of the barriers towards adoption of an EBMgt curriculum, proponents
- f evidence-based practice can better facilitate its inclusion in
management curricula. Faculty were surveyed anonymously (13 responded) around their concerns and with the inclusion of EBMgt and the subsequent student demands. Open ended questions included: To what extent are you aware of EBMgt? Do you think EBMgt should be part of the Management curriculum? Why? What benefits or concerns do you have with the inclusion of EBMgt in the Management curriculum?
Faculty Survey