In Principle, Can Management Problems Be Diagnosed And "Cured" Like Patients' Problems? On The Criticism Of Evidence-Based Management

Evidence-Based Management (EBMgt) promises to help managers better solve problems. It is based on evidence-based medicine (EBM), which gains knowledge primarily through experiments (e.g. on the effects of drugs). The basic thesis of this essay: Because organizations are not systems that can be explained by scientific laws, knowledge about management problems must in principle be gained differently than knowledge about diseases and their cure. The epistemological approach of critical realism offers an opportunity to obtain information on how to overcome them through an analysis of the causes of management problems that does not refer to legal relationships.