1.
Research Paper: The Philosophical Foundations of Management Thought
-Jean Etienne Joullie
Academy of Management Learning & Education [2016]
Team Members:
-Nidhi Ainavolu (PHD23032)
-Barsha Ghosh (PHD23023)
-Kajal Khosla (PHD23001)
-Hemangee Das (PHD23002)
-Debayan Chakraborty (PHD23009)

2.
Introduction
● Contention
Managers, management academics, and management students benefit from being
knowledgeable in philosophy, on the grounds that it develops managerial wisdom, deepens
one’s understanding of the complexities of management life and improves creative and
critical thinking skills.
● Philosophy for managers
Benchmark: Plato’s philosophy
A necessarily brief survey of Western thought must focus on those major movements of
thought that either predate, agree, or disagree most directly with Plato’s philosophy.

3.
Heroism
•Representative authors: Homer, Niccolo Machiavelli and Friedrich Nietzsche
•Emphasis on performance, bravery, resourcefulness, while intentions and feelings are
irrelevant
•Poor performance cannot be tolerated and consistently non-performing employees have to be
dismissed.
•Corresponding themes in management: management by objectives, performance, training and
results
•Homer’s heroes had to perform or be slain; Drucker’s managers have to perform or be fired.
•Managers must surround themselves with a loyal team, protect the friendship of those who can
help, but remove anyone who stands in their way. Executives are to choose their battles
carefully but, once committed, must fight to win, no matter the moral costs.

4.
Rationalism
● Only reason, not sense-perception, can lead to knowledge and answers to these questions. The good man is no longer
the mighty warrior, but the wise man, he who through dialogue, logic, and argumentation arrives at Truth. [Plato]
● The psyche (or mind), Plato argued, although unitary, is composed of three elements: Reason, Spirit, and Appetite.
● Descartes (1987: 78) concluded that thinking is a proof of existence. Man is a “thing that thinks”
● The “I,” mind or soul, is free because it is immaterial and unextended, free to think and free to choose.But the body is
not free; machine-like, it belongs to nature and does not escape its laws.[Descartes]
● Scientificity is refutability: Theories that are not in principle refutable, that is, that cannot be put to the test of empirical
refutation at least in theory (or so to speak), must be dismissed because they are mere tautologies.[Karl Popper]
● Managers emphasise on analysis
● Descartes was a persuasive promoter of deductive analysis.Managers must proceed deductively and analyze the
problem they must solve, the project they must complete, or the market in which they find themselves before
committing to a course of action
● Porter walked again in Descartes’ footsteps when he proposed his “value chain” model

5.
Positivism
Ideas cannot be innate, because ideas cannot be contemplated and manipulated by the mind without logical
concepts and the means to process them, all of which men do not have until they acquire them. [John Locke]
•Dismissed the concept of self-evident truths. Rather than being deductive, philosophy and science must be
exercised in empirical fact collection and the proposition of inductive inferences therefrom. [David Hume]
•Scientific statements, especially those involving causal relationships, must be true a priori if they are to be
formally true. Science is another religion the god of which is called causation. [David Hume]
•Science and society advance along three stages of evolution: theological; metaphysical; “positive.” In this
last era, the “why” questions are dismissed and replaced by “how” inquiries [Comte]
•Positivism looks at the world as a collection of objects that can be reduced to their external qualities, with
the further assumption that these are measurable without any preconception
•Managers emphasise on evidence
•The set of forces that causes people to engage in one behavior rather than some alternative behavior”
(Griffin & Moorhead, 2012). Abraham Maslow’s (1943) theory of human motivation (the hierarchy of
needs) is also a great illustration of this positivist line of thinking
•Herbert A. Simon acknowledged positivism’s sway on his enormously influential Administrative Behavior,
in which he attempted to lay the foundations of an administrative science
•Freud emphasise on psychoanalysis. Can be used to make better informed marketing or staffing decisions.

6.
Romanticism
● Introduction to the beliefs of philosophers during the Enlightenment era
Art should represent and glorify nature
Role of science and philosophy in creating a just and prosperous society
● German Romantics and their differing beliefs
Will, not reason, determining man's ends
World seen as without order or meaning
● Management thinker Tom Peters and his views on excellence and innovation
Emphasis on experimentation, copying successful ideas, and active engagement with the
organization and its environment
● Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and his opposition to Darwinism
Adaptability is more important than adaptation for survival

7.
Existentialism
● The main theme of existentialism is freedom and responsibility.
● Sartre (1966, 2007) held that freedom is the primary datum of human existence.
● Without freedom there is no choice, no action, and no intention, all notions without
which life cannot even be conceived.
● Whereas traditional management literature favors scientific, objective views of
people (as human resources), an existentialist one stresses the importance of
autonomy, empathy, and subjectivity in human relationships without which large
structures can only become impersonal bureaucracies.
● Management theories corresponding to existentialism decision making; authority and
independence

8.
Postmodernism
● The main theme of postmodernism is narratives; knowledge as socially constructed;
absence of foundations; interpretation and language games
● Postmodernism’s dissolution of absolutes accords well with business in a
multicultural world, the dematerialization of the economy, the virtualization of the
office, perpetual change, and the advent of the Information Age.
● Modernity substituted farm labor for factory labor; postmodernism has substituted the
factory for the “office where symbols (words, numbers, computer icons) are analyzed
and manipulated” (Fox & Miller,1998: 432).
● Management theories corresponding to postmodernism multiculturalism; managers as
leaders; organizational culture; change management; Critical Management Studies.

9.
Other philosophies
● Idealism, empiricism, dialectical materialism, phenomenology, hermeneutics &
poststructuralism are omitted.
● Idealism + rationalism (Ontology) ; empiricism + positivism (by virtue of observations) ;
● Phenomenology = existentialism (intentionality) & = empiricism (first-person experience);
● Dialectical materialism (Marxism) & Neo-Marxism - taught & discussed enough;
● Pragmatism (achieving tangible results) - some old ways of thinking - reject foundationalism
through practical consequences
● Pragmatism + postmodernism - knowledge - legitimize power and social domination - truth only
in practical outcomes.

10.
Conclusion
Management - mainstream philosophical traditions but used differently
● Heroism - Drucker’s MBO + result driven pay + CEO’s role & effectiveness for LTG;
● Rationalism - Economics & game theory (Descartes);
● Positivism - Value-free evidence & law-like patterns;
● Romanticism - Innovation ≠ rationality & experience;
● Existentialism - Managers remain free & responsible;
● Postmodernism - Manipulation + Power Game + orgs not by fact but by culture;
All together are required for the complete picture.
Clarifying contradictions - employees behaviour & ethics and management science;
Empiricism + Rationalism ; Either experience or planning followed by action (Inductive vs Deductive)
Passion ≠ Rationality (passionate guy will not bother about traditions or logical difficulties)
Mgmt concept requires deep understanding of philosophical foundations;
Technical knowledge is generic & required for most of the activities;
Mgmt (through communication) is firstly a linguistic practice.

11.
Conclusion
Accept thinking is talking to oneself - terminological confusions, meaningful decisions,
insightful study without understanding tenets and consequences of words used to frame the
problems that one is trying to solve.
Genuine understanding - recognizing one’s biases;
Communicating meaningfully and effectively - be sensitive to language & meaning of words;
Philosophy - practical knowledge by applying conceptual knowledge.
Learning without understanding - superficial, narrow and short-lived learning;
Philosophy - indispensable critical & lifelong learning skills.