Abstract
This essay proposes that management is too often seen as problem solving, and that the equally important art of ignoring problems has not received enough attention. With reference to the thinking of Ludwig Wittgenstein, the essay argues for letting go, and attempting to leave thoughts at rest.
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References
Ludwig Wittgenstein Philosophical Investigations Oxford, Blackwell 1958
Ludwig Wittgenstein Culture and Value Oxford, Blackwell 1980 90
See eg Graeme Salaman (ed) Decision-Making for Business London, Sage 2001
Cf Henry Mintzberg Managers not MBAs London, Prentice Hall 2004 91
This is something one can find in a germinal form in the Tractatus, and which Wittgenstein develops in the Investigations. I will ignore the question whether we have to split his earlier from his later thinking, as it is very difficult to answer briefly, but I believe the importance of this split has been exaggerated.
C.f. Charles S. Peirce Pragmatism as a Principle and Method of Right Thinking New York, State University of New York Press 1903/1997
Ludwig Wittgenstein The Blue and Brown Books Oxford, Blackwell 1958
William James The Meaning of Truth Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1909/1979
See for instance Martin Heidegger ‘The End of Philosophy and the Task of Thinking’ in: Martin Heidegger On Time and Being pp 55–73 New York: Harper & Row 1972
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Rehn, A., Taalas, S. On Wittgenstein and Management at Rest: Prolegomena to a Philosophy of Problems. Philos. of Manag. 7, 89–95 (2009). https://doi.org/10.5840/pom20097231
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5840/pom20097231