Aquinas on management and its development

Abstract

Purpose -This paper aims to present Aquinas' psychological theory of action as a useful guide for understanding decision making in management. Design/methodology/approach -A conceptual reconstruction of Aquinas' views on the structure of the moral act is shown to apply to the process of decision making in management. Findings -Grounded in a rich rational psychology, Aquinas' theory of action allows for prescription that harmonizes instrumental rationality, the will, and personal morality. It captures contemporary approaches well and provides better explanations of management success and failure than do models of rational choice. Since the exercise of practical reason can be learned, the model is optimistic about the possibility of management development.Research limitations/implications -The paper stops at the conceptual level. The interplay between reason and will, or between deliberative and prescriptive stages in decision making, opens up a field of empirical research in management. Originality/value -Aquinas' virtue ethics has been applied to management, but this is the first suggestion to draw on his theory of action. If fully developed, it promises a radical alternative to models based on functional reasoning and utilitarian values.

Hybrid Forms of Business: The Logic of Gift in the Commercial World

“…Strategic management decisions and organizational patterns of businesses have recently been analyzed in terms of triadic structures (Keidel 1995(Keidel , 2010 that can be given a Trinitarian interpretation. Management itself, as the application of practical reason, can be seen as based on triadic structures, with varying constituents (Pestoff 1992;Wicks 2009;Salo et al 2009;Grassl 2010Grassl , 2011a. Triadic structures need of course not be given a Trinitarian understanding; but where they are so understood, the model of the Trinity imposes structure on and makes sense out of social arbitrariness and chaos.…”

Ethical Judgment and Radical Business Changes: The Role of Entrepreneurial Perspicacity

“…Also our interpretation can be used in combination with, and enlarged by, previous models which specifically involve virtues in their consideration (e.g. Bastons, 2008;Grassl, 2010).…”

“…However, Aquinas' framework is still underestimated, especially in studies of managerial or entrepreneurial cognition (for a review see Huff, 1990;Walsh, 1995;Kor et al, 2007), even if some studies have applied it to the decision-making process (Bastons, 2008;Arjoon, 2010;Grassl, 2010;Melé, 2010).…”

Philosophy Theory Into Entrepreneurial Education Practice: A Holistic Model

“…Finally, especially after the present financial crisis, more and more scholars have started to point their attention to the necessity of courses in business ethics and philosophy for potential entrepreneurs (Small, 2003;Grassl, 2010). This knowledge may be seen as the final piece of a completed and sounded judgment, capturing veiled and weak signal of an unavoidable uncertainty connatural to the entrepreneurial acting (Harmeling et al, 2009;Pellegrini, Ciappei, 2013).…”

“…If we look at the issue in philosophical terms, we can draw a parallel with the Aquinas' philosophy that identifies ends, means and execution (Aquinas, Summa Theologiea, 1947) The process starts from the ends to be achieved and proceed with a top-down approach, first identifying the means necessary for the fulfilment of our action then switching to the proactive phase in which it shall implement the plan (Grassl 2010). On the other hand, there is also possibility of a bottom-up logic that reverses the process.…”