Combining Crisis Management and Evidence-Based Management

Abstract

Natural disasters, such as floods, provide teachable moments for students to learn about crisis management. The authors argue that evidence-based management offers a pedagogical tool for leveraging these teachable moments to deepen student learning about the management challenges of crisis situations. An emerging area in management education, evidence-based management involves using best available scientific evidence as the basis for management decision making and practice. Using data from 782 student assignments in an undergraduate introductory management course, the authors show how combining crisis management and evidence-based management in an assignment task in the aftermath of the 2010-2011 Queensland floods in Australia deepened student learning of general and crisis management concepts and increased students' engagement in learning an evidence-based management approach.

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“…A case can be defined as a phenomenon within a bounded context and, in this study, was defined as peer-reviewed academic literature, across multiple disciplines, that discuss EFWE in the context of Queensland, Australia, and Saskatchewan, Canada, published from 2013 to 2015, inclusive. These two regions were chosen because both experienced record-breaking flooding in 2011; Queensland faced one of the most devastating floods in Australian history, with 78% of the state declared a natural disaster zone (Wright et al, 2013) while Saskatchewan (and Manitoba) endured a massive flooding event described as one of the five worst floods in Canadian history (CBC News, 2011). Both areas host over a million residents with similarities in governance, investment in science and technology, systems of weather forecasting, emergency warnings, and response measures.…”

The Increasing Importance of Curriculum Design and Its Implications for Management Educators

“…Constructive alignment is an outcomes-based approach to curriculum design that is grounded in constructivist learning theory (Biggs, 1996;Biggs, 1999b). Despite its widespread use in higher education, constructive alignment has barely been mentioned in the management education literature (e.g., Tomkins & Ulus, 2016;Wright, Nichols, McKechnie, & McCarthy, 2013).…”

The Problem of Constructive Misalignment in International Business Education: A Three-Stage Integrated Approach to Enhancing Teaching and Learning

“…Apart from evidence from a few recent studies discussing effective methods such as threshold concepts, problem-based learning, or online simulations, to existing practices (i.e. Vitale 2010, Blasco 2012, Wright & Gilmore 2012, Wright, Nichols, McKechnie, & McCarthy 2013, there still remains limited interest from practitioners in terms of embedding this view in course design and development.…”

“…Constructive misalignment, on the other hand, is expected to have negative impact on the effectiveness of professional practices and quality of learning experience (Biggs 1996(Biggs , 2003Barry, Murphy, & Drew 2015;Kwan 2015;Nkuyubwatsi 2016). Despite this recognition, the matter remains largely persistent in modern higher education (Jackson 2002, Vitale 2010, Blasco 2012, Wright & Gilmore 2012, Wright, Nichols, McKechnie, & McCarthy 2013, and is particularly evident in some subject areas such as International Business (IB) (Kobe 2011). For instance, one of the major commonly-identified problems among practitioners from this subject area is learners' knowledge 'gap' between appreciating the theory and applying in practice.…”