Skip to main content
Log in

Philosophy: Today’s Manager’s Best Friend?

  • Published:
Philosophy of Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The purpose of this paper1 is to rationalise why and how philosophy can help today’s managers in their daily practices.

I will first explain why today’s managers particularly should engage themselves in profound and enduring dialogue with philosophers. To this end, I will present the close links between the major managerial activities and the major philosophical domains.

In the second section, I will sketch out how such a dialogue can be facilitated. To this end, I will present some of the methods and conditions used to ensure the success of the practice of philosophy in organisations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Badaracco, Joseph (1997) Defining moments, HBS press

    Google Scholar 

  • Barthes, Roland (2005) The Neutral: Lecture Course at the College de France (1977–1978), Columbia University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Carney, Brian and Getz, Isaac (2009) Freedom, Inc.: Free Your Employees and Let Them Lead Your Business to Higher Productivity, Profits, and Growth, Crown Business

    Google Scholar 

  • Cervari, Paolo and Pollastri, Neri (2010) Il filosofo in azienda, Apogeo Collana

    Google Scholar 

  • de Borchgrave, Rodolphe (2006) Le philosophe et le manager: Penser autrement le management, de Boeck

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Follett, Mary Parker (1987/1949) Freedom and Co-ordination: Lectures in business organization (reprint 1987), Management Publications Trust Limited

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, Michel (2001) Fearless speech, Joseph Pearson

    Google Scholar 

  • Hénaff, Marcel (2002) Le prix de la vérité — le don, l’argent, la philosophie, Seuil, collection “La couleur des idées”

    Google Scholar 

  • Klempner, Geoffrey (2004) ‘The business arena’, Philosophy for Business, Issue 5, 7th March 2004

    Google Scholar 

  • Ledoux, Laurent (2011) ‘Philosophy: Managers’ best friend?’, published online at www.philoma.org

    Google Scholar 

  • Margretta, Joan (2002) What Management Is: How it Works and Why it’s Everyone’s Business, Harper Collins

    Google Scholar 

  • Plato (2005) Protagoras and Meno, trans. Adam Beresford, Penguin

  • Sandbu, Martin (2011) ‘Aristotle — the banker’s best friend’, Financial Times, 12th January 2011

    Google Scholar 

  • Strom, Mark (2007) Arts of the Wise Leader, Sophos

    Google Scholar 

  • Vegleris, Eugénie (2006) Manager avec la philo, Editions d’Organisation

    Google Scholar 

  • Whiteley, Alma and Whiteley, Jervis (2006) Core Values and Organizations Change, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ledoux, L. Philosophy: Today’s Manager’s Best Friend?. Philos. of Manag. 11, 11–26 (2012). https://doi.org/10.5840/pom201211317

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.5840/pom201211317

Keywords

Navigation