Conceptualizing Wise Management Decision‐Making: A Grounded Theory Approach

Abstract

This article investigates the role of wisdom in management decision-making. In one of the first empirical studies investigating wisdom and management, 37 CEOs, top managers, and senior executives were interviewed about their perspectives on the concept of wisdom in the business context and its role in management decision-making; the data were analyzed using grounded theory methodology. The findings introduce a grounded construct of Wise Management Decision-making, in which wise decision-making is understood as an integrated cogni-emotional, reflective process that accounts for internal and external conditions related to the decision, which is made with the well-being of the greatest number of stakeholders in mind. The findings both confirm and challenge previous conceptual studies of wisdom and provide a practical approach to wise management decision-making. The implications of this study are significant as they broaden the view of the practicability of wisdom in management and add greater understanding of the complex nature of decision-making in the business context. For managers, developing wise decision-making abilities in situ should be considered an integrated and multidimensional practice, one that can be learned.

Can Practical Wisdom Mitigate the Negative Effects of Rule-following and Hyper-codification

“…The effective dissemination of practical wisdom amongst the members of a company organization would not only be able to create good managers, but would also enable the development of more profitable relations with stakeholders, and help the company to operate more effectively within its competitive environment. This would generate the ability to respond to market opportunities ahead of time in the short term, while simultaneously forming a competitive advantage in the long term, because decisions would be made with consideration of the various contingent issues, with the constant aim of the best interests of all the stakeholders involved [16].…”

Consumer Wisdom: A Theoretical Framework of Five Integrated Facets

“…Today's sociopsychological research on wisdom has been primarily evident within the subfields of cognitive psychology, life span psychology, and gerontology. However, it is also appearing in applied settings such as medicine, public policy, education, and leadership (Etheridge, ; Intezari & Pauleen, ; Plews‐Ogan, Owens, & May, ; Sternberg, ; see website for the University of Chicago's Center for Practical Wisdom). Consumer behavior has not been the subject of any wisdom research until relatively recently.…”

Grounded Theory in Practice: Novice Researchers’ Choice Between Straussian and Glaserian

“…Half a century after the publication of The Discovery of Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), grounded theory has gained popularity within organizational and management research partly due to its ability to produce organizational descriptions, themes, and hypotheses that are recognized by members of organizations (Länsisalmi, Peiró, & Kivimäki, 2004). Today, it is also not uncommon for experienced and novice researchers to use grounded theory for their research to produce new theories and original research (see, for example, Boudreau & Robey, 2005; Cowling, 2015; Gligor & Holcomb, 2013; Intezari & Pauleen, 2017; Poisseroux, 2010; Schurch, 2015; Xiao, Dahya, & Lin, 2004).…”