Reflections of Teaching Evidence-Based Management - Center for ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

depth as part of students’ assignments wherein they refine one or more questions,seek relevant evidence (as well as theories and opinions), and critically appraisethe information they obtained. Titles and details of the assignments of this genremay differ, but all have students get and critically appraise practice-relevantevidence.Working in groups, students select a business problem within one of theirorganizations or develop another practice-related question to examine. Pastgroups have chosen to examine the construct of employee engagement, the role ofpersonality testing in hiring, and some of the barriers to women’s advancementsuch as the glass cliff (See for example Ryan & Haslam, 2005, 2007). Otherspecific questions might look like these: When are distributed teams more likelyto perform effectively? Would pay-for-performance work in our company? Whenis investing in workforce training most likely to be financially beneficial?Students consult with the instructor with respect to their topic and specificquestions. Students are required to use an EBMgt approach to examine the fad orphenomena they have selected. The group reviews the literature to examine thetopic and includes information from other sources, such as the local context.Their task is to evaluate the literature and marshal the best available managementand social science research to answer their question. Deliverables for assignmentslike these include papers (of lengths varying from 2-3 to 6-8 pages) andpresentations. An instructor may require an annotated appendix to describe thesearch process the group employed to identify their sources. Often times, studentsdiscover that the evaluated-research evidence does not support the management1030
practice that is commonly used in business. After reviewing and evaluating theliterature, the group may be required specifically to address the “so what”question to determine the practical implications for managers in the workplace,examining ways in which we can meaningfully incorporate evidence (rigour) intopractice (relevance). One important learning point for the students is to constructa table describing each study’s quality, context, variables, and findings. Withouta table, students tend to interpret each study separately (as one-offs) and havedifficulty integrating the studies. With a table, patterns and trends become moreapparent. By doing an assignment like Myth Busting or Get the Evidence twicein a term, students recognize what and how much they have learned. Thisexperience reinforces the value of having opportunities to practice the kinds ofbehaviors and techniques we seek to help transfer to students’ work lives.Integrating EBMgt Elements to Support Decisions and ActionsWe emphasize the four EBMgt facets (Briner et al., 2009) through variousexercises and assignments discussed in the previous steps. Classroom-basededucation, like ours, may foster knowledge about EBP, whereas EB education thatis more closely integrated to practice settings seems to result in improved skills,attitudes, and behaviors (Coomarasamy & Khan, 2004). Moreover, “it may beunrealistic to expect university students to reach expert performance levels inEBP by the end of their educational experience” (Thomas et al., 2011, p. 262).Those insights on EB education in health domains are important to consider.Classroom-based interventions may not be as powerful as practice-integrated EBeducation in affecting all relevant outcomes (e.g., attitudes, skills, behavior).1031
Page 1 and 2: Reflections of Teaching Evidence-Ba
Page 3 and 4: 2007). Educators who do incorporate
Page 5 and 6: help them overcome from others when
Page 7 and 8: positions and programs (e.g., Brine
Page 9 and 10: differ in several respects. The maj
Page 11 and 12: to convert well-established evidenc
Page 13 and 14: the practice evolves, more will be,
Page 15 and 16: etter outcomes for organizations an
Page 17 and 18: esearch methods content provides st
Page 19 and 20: evaluating the process. None of us
Page 21 and 22: two ways: both as content to inform
Page 23 and 24: A lack of knowledge is not the only
Page 25 and 26: Asking the Right QuestionsTo use ev
Page 27 and 28: informal mentorship, or gender diff
Page 29 and 30: Characteristics of good, researchab
Page 31 and 32: “Reader Beware”) have been conv
Page 33 and 34: on Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, and Jack
Page 35 and 36: may be packaged with textbooks (e.g
Page 37 and 38: debriefings of the Absenteeism Diag
Page 39 and 40: Although the multidisciplinary natu
Page 41: (1992) book, Doing Exemplary Resear
Page 45 and 46: action, using evidence and organiza
Page 47 and 48: eviewed only upon completion of the
Page 49 and 50: specific skills the class intended
Page 51 and 52: ReferencesAdprin.com. (2011). Adver
Page 53 and 54: Coomarasamy, A., & Khan, K. S. (200
Page 55 and 56: Hadley, J. A., Davis, J., & Khan, K
Page 57 and 58: Pedhazur, E. J., & Schmelkin, L. (1
Page 59 and 60: Rynes, S. L., Brown, K. G., Colbert

Reflections of Teaching Evidence-Based Management - Center for ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?