Neuroscientific Insights Into Management Development: Theoretical Propositions and Practical Implications

Research from the interdisciplinary field of social cognitive neuroscience provides insights as to how managers learn and develop, resulting in theoretical propositions and practical implications. Third-generation management development is applied as a conceptual framework for the organization and presentation of relevant evidence from the neuroscience literature. Neuroscience offers potential to theoretically advance our understanding of management development as well as practically enhance managerial capacity to (a) reflect with a deeper sense of self-awareness, (b) analyze with greater balance across hard and soft data, (c) position organizations within broader perspectives, (d) collaborate interpersonally by establishing relationships that engender egalitarianism and trust, and (e) enact change in a nonlinear manner. Ten propositions are developed linking neurological processes to management development. Practical implications are suggested as well as research considerations for future integration between neuroscience and management development.