Foundational Concepts of Management

ON FOUNDATIONAL CONCEPTS OF MANAGEMENT:

PRACTICE, STRUCTURE AND MODERNISM AS PHILOSOPHICAL MOVEMENTS

Don Antunes

Passage de Montriond 2

CH 1006, Lausanne, Switzerland

Don.Antunes@gmail.com

+41 79 751 91 30

Working Paper

ON FOUNDATIONAL CONCEPTS OF MANAGEMENT:

PRACTICE, STRUCTURE AND MODERNISM AS PHILOSOPHICAL MOVEMENTS

Concepts provide fundamental building blocks for the constitution of managerial actions and for theorising about management. The concepts of practice, structure and modernity are of particular importance as they inform both management theories and actions. Management is a practice (Fayol, 1919; Barnard, 1938; Drucker, 1978). Management is a structure (Weber, 1924; Child, 1976). Professional management is a modern phenomenon which resulted from the splitting of ownership and control (Chandler, 1977). These fundamental concepts have also inspired philosophers. Their diffusion generated philosophical movement expressed in the form of books, articles, lectures, conferences and other forums of communication. However, management theorists are still to uncover the implicit philosophical heritage of these concepts. Instead, they have generally taken two other routes: to take them for granted, accepting them as given, or simply adopting an a priori definition when dealing with them.

There are intrinsic advantages of using a philosophically informed theoretical basis. Philosophy stands at the creative core of reflective concepts, as a major strength of the philosophical approach lies in its concern with thinking about thinking. By nature, philosophy is a reflective activity that focuses on issues that are fundamental for conceptualization such as the formation of beliefs, claims to knowledge as well as the nature of reality, beauty and good. It is “the art of forming, inventing and fabricating concepts” (Deleuze & Guattari, 1994:2). Besides, philosophical thinking not only informs theoretical positions, but also gives...