Teaching the Person, Not the Topic: An Implicit Theory Approach to Management Education

Management education has traditionally prioritized the delivery of formal theories, often detached from students’ lived experiences, beliefs, and intuitive understandings of organizational life. This essay proposes an implicit theory approach to management education; one that begins with the lay theories students already hold about leadership, motivation, power, performance, and so forth. These internal frameworks, while often unspoken, shape how students interpret course content and apply it in practice. When these beliefs are ignored, formal theory may be memorized for assessment but struggle to take root in behavior or decision-making. In this essay, it is argued that surfacing and examining students’ implicit theories is essential for deeper, more integrated learning. Taking students’ implicit theories seriously changes both the purpose and the tone of management education. It reframes teaching as the work of engaging with students’ meaning-making rather than delivering content. By beginning with what students already believe, educators can bridge the gap between theory and lived experience, creating learning that is intellectually challenging, personally resonant, and ethically grounded. Such an approach supports deeper engagement with theory and practice, and encourages learning that is more likely to endure beyond the classroom.