The Philosophical Foundations of Management Thought

I argue that managers, management academics, and management students benefit from being knowledgeable in Western philosophy. To that effect, a survey of six major themes of Western philosophy is offered: heroism, rationalism, positivism, romanticism, existentialism, and postmodernism. This survey reveals that the dominating themes taught in management schools have recognizable philosophical origins: Power in human relationships is a heroic concept; the case for management education is of rationalist descent; and the conviction that research is to be a value-free, inductive enterprise is a legacy of positivism. Further, the importance of innovation is a romantic theme; accepting one’s personal responsibility for one’s decisions is a distinctively existentialist demand; and the idea that the world and human existence are without firm foundations is the dominating message of postmodernism. Knowingly or not, in one way or another, all important management authors inscribe themselves in at least one of these traditions. No management education is complete if it is not anchored in their understanding.