Understanding barriers to evidence-based practice in management

21/03/2018 11:00
Turkey

Abstract:
Concerns about the 'gap' between management research produced in business schools and management practice are long-standing and well-documented. Management practices do not seem often to be based much on research evidence and the research produced by management researchers seems to be of limited interest to managers. Many approaches to solving this problem have been proposed including, most recently, evidence-based management (www.cebma.org). Evidence-based practice has been adopted by many professions and is a way of making better-informed decisions that enhance the effectiveness of practitioners. I will argue that academic practices around both research and teaching act as a barrier to the further development of evidence-based practice in management. Such practices include poor methods, focusing on publishing as the goal of science, and using student satisfaction as a proxy for teaching quality and learning. I will then consider what business schools can do to more actively promote evidence-based management and teach and train students in ways that are more likely to help them become evidence-based managers.

Bio:
Rob B Briner is Professor of Organizational Psychology at Queen Mary, University of London and also Scientific Director of the Center for Evidence-Based Management (www.cebma.org) which he co-found. His research has focused on several topics including well-being, emotions, stress, ethnicity, the psychological contract, absence from work, motivation, work-nonwork and everyday work behaviour. Beyond specific research areas, Rob helps practitioners and organizations make better use of evidence, including research evidence, in decision-making as well as encouraging academics to make research more accessible. He has written for and presented to practitioners on many aspects of HR and organizational psychology and is now involved in many initiatives aimed at developing and promoting evidence-based practice. He has received several awards for his work in this area including the British Psychological Society Division of Occupational Psychology Academic Contribution to Practice Award in 2014 and topped HR Magazine's Most Influential Thinker list in 2016.

21.03.2018, 11:00, EMBA 102