Reconnecting Theory and Practice in Pluralistic Contexts: Issues and Aristotelian Considerations

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to contribute, from a research practitioner perspective, to the theory–practice gap debate in organization studies, focusing on pluralistic contexts such as project organizing. The current debate is introduced; then the features of the two main philosophical traditions (i.e., modernism and postmodernism) are critically summarized. Then, propositions to reconnect theory and practice according to the Aristotelian premodern ethical and practical philosophy are discussed. Some key implications in the following areas are outlined: roles played by practitioners and scholars; emancipatory praxeological style of reasoning; closing the “phronetic gap”; and the development of “good practice,” ethics, and politics.

The praxis of ‘alignment seeking’ in project work

“…As described by Schatzki (2012) there is a focus on getting close to the people involved, recording intimate accounts in order to explore the mundane and 'taken-for-granted' routines of everyday life (Jarzabkowski & Seidl 2008). (Bredillet 2005(Bredillet , 2013Bredillet, Hatcher & Tywoniak 2013;Bredillet, Tywoniak & Dwivedula 2015). Also, the value of Heideggerian and more broadly, continental philosophical perspectives for bringing a practice grounding to project management research have been proposed by van der Hoorn and Whitty (2015b) and van der Hoorn (2016).…”

Phronesis in administration and organizations: A literature review and future research agenda

“…Adding all citations, the authors that appear the most (cited at least 100 times) are Aristotle 620 Some of the 48 articles are based on an Aristotelian perspective to approach phronesis (Bessant, 2009;Bredillet et al, 2015b;Cairns & As-Saber, 2017;Carter et al, 2017;Majdik & Keith, 2011;Morrell & Brammer, 2016;Nyberg, 2008;Phillips & Hall, 2013;Queiroz, 2015;Rämö, 1999Rämö, , 2004aRämö, , 2004bRoos, 2017;Salminen-Karlsson & Wallgren, 2008;Shotter & Tsoukas, 2014a, 2014bStatler, Roos, & Victor, 2007). Also, Bredillet et al (2015a), Bredillet et al (2015b) build on the work of the Aristotelian philosopher Eikeland (2008). MacIntyre's (2007) concepts are cited in many works (e.g., Bardon et al, 2017;Beadle & Könyöt, 2006;Francis, 1994;Green, 2009;Holt, 2006;Kavanagh, 2013;Pinto, 2013); (Mackay et al, 2014;Shotter & Tsoukas, 2014a;Ungvári-Zrínyi, 2013).…”

“…Regarding intuition, the themes are intuitive decision-making and phronesis (Bajwa et al, 2015); the intuitive component of practical wisdom as moral impulse and emotions (Roca, 2007); the relationship between virtuous decision and intuition (Provis, 2010); judgment and the element of emotion (Shotter & Tsoukas, 2014b); and expertise as a judgment-oriented phronetic practice, able to create solutions and solve problems (Majdik & Keith, 2011). Dialogical ethics between paradigms (Kopf et al, 2010) Common understanding and experience (Nishinaka, 2016) Competent project manager (Bredillet et al, 2015a) Cooperation of supervisors-graduate students (Salminen-Karlsson & Wallgren, 2008) Virtue ethics for youth work (Bessant, 2009) Everyday phronesis in organizations (Nyberg, 2008) Expertise argument as phronetic practice (Majdik & Keith, 2011) Governance, virtue, habituations (Morrell & Brammer, 2016) Intuition in management decision-making (Provis, 2010) Identity regulation, identity work (Bardon et al, 2017) Intuition in practical wisdom and emotions (Roca, 2007) Leadership practice of nursing (Cook & Leathard, 2004) Intuitive Decision-Making and phronesis (Bajwa et al, 2015) Managers wisdom and identity (Warhurst & Black, 2017) Judgment in auditing (Francis, 1994) Mētis in management learning (Mackay et al, 2014) Judgment & practical wisdom (Shotter & Tsoukas, 2014b) Phronesis and techné for organizational wisdom (Phillips & Hall, 2013) Leaders as phronetic leaders (Hamaya & Oya, 2013) Practical wisdom by video games (Muñoz & El-Hani, 2012) Leaders practical wisdom (Fariñas, 2015) Leadership and judgment (Shotter & Tsoukas, 2014a) Leadership for sustainability (Roos, 2017) Management: profession or practice (Billsberry & Birnik, 2010) Moral character in managerial practice…”

“…The articles suggest that managers' engagement with wisdom serves as a resource for building identity work (Bardon et al, 2017;Warhurst & Black, 2017). Bredillet et al (2015a) emphasize the inseparability between phronesis and moral virtues when discussing the theorypractice gap debate in organization studies. They find inspiration in Eikeland's (2008) work to affirm that practical wisdom is an ethical and intellectual virtue, acquired through practice.…”

Projects-as-Practice

“…This same problem is equally apparent in the wider organization studies literature (e.g. Bredillet et al, 2015;Van de Ven & Johnson, 2006), where it has led to a flourishing of interest in practice-based perspectives (Corradi, Gherardi, & Verzelloni, 2010;Miettinen, Samra-Fredericks, & Yanow, 2009) especially in disciplines such as strategy (Whittington, 2006), organizational learning (Nicolini, Gherardi, & Yanow, 2003;Orlikowski, 2002), technology (Orlikowski, 2000) and leadership (Raelin, 2016). Paralleling these developments, there is also a nascent literature that explores projects-as-practice (Blomquist, Hallgren, Nilsson, & Soderholm, 2010;Hallgren & Soderholm, 2011).…”