Elements of a Philosophy of Management and Organization (eBook)

Preface 5
Contents 7
Part A Management and Philosophy 9
Chapter 1 The Philosophy of Management: Philosophy as a Challenge to Business, Management as a Challenge to Philosophy 10
I. Introduction 11
II. Management Ethics and Corporate Governance: The Total Good of the Firm as the Fiduciary Duty of the Manager 15
III. Management and Cultural Philosophy 1: Culture Value as the Task of the Organization to Increase the Internal Cooperation 18
1. What is Cultural Capital? 18
2. The Increased Cooperation of the Firm as Cultural Capital and Culture Value 19
IV. Management and Cultural Philosophy 2: The Circle of Experiencing and Understanding in Management and in Art 20
1. The Cultural Surplus Value of the Goods and Services as the Firm’s Task 20
2. The Circle of Cultural Understanding and Experiencing in the Production of Art and of Industry 21
V. The Challenge of Management to Philosophy 23
Chapter 2 Philosophy of Management: Concepts of Management from the Perspectives of Systems Theory, Phenomenological Hermeneutics, Corporate Religion, and Existentialism 26
I. The Emergence of Business Ethics: Towards the Political Firm 26
II. Values-driven Management and Organizational Systems 31
III. Leadership, Judgment, and Values 37
IV. Corporate Religion, Existentialism, and Kierkegaard 44
V. Conclusion 51
Part B Organization Theory, Organizational Practice, and Philosophy 52
Chapter 3 Critical Realism, Organization Theory, Methodology, and the Emerging Scienceof Reconfiguration¹ 53
I. Introduction 53
II. Critical Realist Metaphysics 55
III. The Conception of Theory 60
IV. Methodology 64
V. Research Designs and Logics of Discovery 70
1. Single Case Study Research 70
2. Research Involving Comparative Case Studies 72
3. Generative Institutional Investigations 75
4. From General Contexts to Mechanisms 76
VI. Final Remarks 81
Chapter 4 Epistemological Issues and Aspects of Organizational Practice 84
I. Introduction 85
II. Epistemology 85
1. Relational Epistemology 86
a) Knowledge Relation 87
2. Epistemic Variety 88
a) Questions 88
b) Strategies of Explanation 89
c) Dimensions of Knowledge 90
d) Data, Information and Knowledge (dak) 92
3. Quality of Knowledge 92
a) Criteria of Truth 93
b) Profoundness 94
c) Sources of Knowledge 94
4. Justification 95
a) S knows P 96
b) Virtue Epistemology 97
5. Summarizing Conclusion 98
III. Epistemological Issues and Organizational Practice 98
1. Action Regarding Knowledge 99
2. Knowledge and Organizational Practice 100
IV. Epistemology and Good Governance 101
1. Transparency 102
2. Integrity 104
3. Epistemology: Transparency, Auditing and Integrity 105
a) Transparency, Auditing and Integrity 105
Transparency 106
Auditing 107
Integrity 108
b) The Relevance of Epistemology 109
V. Concluding Remarks 111
References 111
Part C Philosophy, Economics, and Business Ethics 113
Chapter 5 Values and the Limits of Economic Rationality: Critical Remarks on ‘Economic Imperialism’ 114
I. Economic Imperialism? 114
II. The Being Given of Preferences and the Validity-reflexive Formation Process 119
1. The Being Given of Preferences 119
2. The Validity-reflexive Formation Process 121
3. Application of the RCM to Itself 128
III. Quantifying Preferences and Their Quality 129
References 136
Chapter 6 Business Engagement, Mental Models, and Philosophy in the Globalized World 140
I. Introduction: Order in the Globalized World? 140
II. Mental Models Matter: Some Empirical Figures 141
III. Philosophers on Normative Mental Models 143
1. Strong Normativity I: Virtue Ethics 143
2. Strong Normativity II: Kantian Tradition 145
3. Weak Normativity: Corporate Citizenship 148
IV. Contractarian Normativity out of Economics 150
1. Theory in Order Ethics 151
a) Actions and Rules 152
b) Implementation and Advantages 153
2. Order Ethics and Incomplete Contracts 155
V. Responsibilities of Corporations in the Globalized World 157
VI. Conclusion 160
References 161
Part D Philosophy and Brand Management 165
Chapter 7 The Ethical Consequences of Brand Management: A System-theoretical Approach 166
I. The By-product of Branding 166
II. How to Differentiate Between the Product and the Brand 168
III. Preliminary Work on the Sociology of a Brand Community 171
IV. Brands Link not Only Customers but Also Companies 175
V. Not Cab but Brooms 177
References 178
List of Authors 182
Index of Names 183