Philosophizing on strategic management models

Organization Studies, Spring, 1998 by Roland Calori

'Philosophy, though unable to tell us with certainty what is the true answer to the doubts which it raises, is able to suggest many possibilities which enlarge our thoughts and free them from the tyranny of custom. Thus, while diminishing our feeling of certainty as to what things are, it greatly increases our knowledge as to what they may be, removes the somewhat arrogant dogmatism of those who have never travelled into the region of liberating doubt, and keeps alive our sense of wonder by showing familiar things in an unfamiliar aspect.' (Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy 1912, 1959 edition: 157)

In a recent survey conducted by the European Round Table of Industrialists, European Chief Executives suggested that business schools should teach (more) sociology, psychology and philosophy so that future managers develop aptitudes to work in teams, tolerate ambiguity and get a deep understanding of the situations in which they are involved (Calori and de Woot 1994: 236-257).

A few scholars call for meetings between social sciences and philosophy:

'[..] sooner or later organization studies must enter an area where only the foolhardy dare to tread - the place where philosophy and social science meet. [..] To seek to do both, to attempt to speak the twin discourse, to be a student of these twin disciplines is open to very few of us, and to none without criticism. To confront a professional philosopher is to confront one's own ignorance. Nevertheless, the embarrassment must be endured.' (Burrell 1994: 15)

What can we learn from philosophy to inform organization studies in general and strategic management in particular? Kant would (probably) suggest that philosophizing will help to answer the following two questions: 'What can I know? What ought I to do ?', the first one is addressed by epistemology (philosophy of knowledge), the second one by ethics (Kant 1787, 1993 edition: 518).

For him, cognitive faculties include 'understanding' - 'pure reason', and 'practical reason' - ethics:

'The legislation of human reason, or philosophy, has two objects - nature and freedom - and thus contains not only the laws of nature, but also those of ethics, at first in two separate systems, which finally merge into one grand philosophical system of cognition. The philosophy of nature relates to that which is, that of ethics to that which ought to be.' (Kant 1787, 1993 edition: 536)

Some researchers in social sciences turn to philosophy when they have epistemological problems (see, for instance, the modern-postmodern debate in Organization Studies: Cooper and Burrell 1988; Burrell 1988; Cooper 1989; Chia 1995), but these are exceptions. As far as the moral dimension is concerned, business ethics tends to remain a specific discipline, separated from mainstream research on organizations and management (Singer 1994).

Such a limited interest in philosophy is even more surprising when one considers the recent development and success of research on managerial and organizational cognition, and the emergence of a knowledge-based theory of the firm (see, e.g. Strategic Management Journal, special issue; Grant and Spender 1996).

Cognitive science has to do with the modelization of mind, as such it springs from three main sources: artificial intelligence, neurobiology, and philosophy (particularly the applied philosophy of knowledge). The first gave birth to the cognitivist current, the second to the connectionist current, and the third remained under-developed. The aim of this paper is to stimulate a philosophical perspective on managerial cognition and behaviour, and to show that epistemological analysis can help (practitioners and scholars) renew management models. Here, epistemology is defined in its broad Anglo-Saxon meaning: 'The study or theory of the nature, sources, and limits of knowledge' (Webster's New World Dictionary 1994), which is equivalent to 'theory of knowledge' as defined by the French (Vocabulaire technique et critique de la philosophie 1993). Although some reflections about ethics may emerge when analyzing the nature, sources and limits of (strategic) management models, ethical analysis will be beyond the scope of this paper. However, it could usefully complement epistemological analysis.

A model is a heuristic scheme (for issue enacting, problem finding and problem solving) that is effective enough to be taught to other people. A model's scientific status depends on the amount of scientific theory building and testing on which it relies. Since the 1960's, the concept of corporate strategy has taken a central place in the way managers think of their role in their organization. Several models of strategizing were elaborated by researchers, consultants and managers. Some models were widely taught by professors and adopted in the business community; they formed an orthodoxy (Knights and Morgan 1991). What is studied here is neither the cognitive structures of the individual manager nor scientific theories, it is the explicit collective knowledge expressed in these orthodox models that can be found in best-selling books and renowned journals (for practitioners and academics).