Organization Management Journal
Article Title
Management as a contextual practice: the need to blend science, skills and practical wisdom
Abstract
This paper contributes to the debate regarding whether or not management is, or should become, a profession. Using the principles of dialectic logic, arguments for the thesis that management is a profession and the antithesis that management is more akin to an art or a craft are critically reviewed. Aristotle’s intellectual virtues episteme (science), techne (skills) and phronesis (practical wisdom) are introduced as a synthesis to this debate. Rather than characterizing management as a profession, it is argued that management is a contextual practice that requires a blend of all three intellectual virtues.
Recommended Citation
Billsberry, Jon and Birnik, Andreas
(2010)
"Management as a contextual practice:
the need to blend science, skills and
practical wisdom,"
Organization Management Journal: Vol. 7:
Iss.
2, Article 12.
Available at:
https://scholarship.shu.edu/omj/vol7/iss2/12