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Article
Publication date: 20 July 2010

Dermot Alan Tredget

This paper aims to examine the meaning, use and practical application to management education and leadership development of the terms wisdom, practical wisdom, prudence…

1050

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the meaning, use and practical application to management education and leadership development of the terms wisdom, practical wisdom, prudence, discretion and discernment as used in the Rule of Benedict.

Design/methodology/approach

After a detailed examination of the historical texts, the author draws on his personal experience of facilitating workshops with a number of senior executives. He applies this learning to current trends and issues in contemporary organisations in particular as they apply to the spiritual qualities of leadership.

Findings

The paper comes to a number of conclusions: spiritual discernment is an integral and indispensable part of practical wisdom; the acquisition, development of practical wisdom cannot be divorced from the individual's core spiritual and religious beliefs and practice; practical wisdom is not an end in itself but a means to discerning how to live a morally good life in relationship to other individuals and stakeholders.

Practical implications

Any workplace, irrespective of size and activity, must be a community of practice where practical wisdom can develop and flourish. In the frenetic workplace the exercise of practical wisdom needs protected time and contemplative leisure.

Originality/value

The ancient texts of the Rule of Benedict are translated into modern times; consequences for management practice and education are drawn.

Details

Journal of Management Development, vol. 29 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0262-1711

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 11 October 2021

Marty Stuebs, William Miller and Steven Mintz

This chapter explores practical wisdom’s role in managing the application and use of soft skills. The authors explore how practical wisdom can connect technical and soft skills by…

Abstract

This chapter explores practical wisdom’s role in managing the application and use of soft skills. The authors explore how practical wisdom can connect technical and soft skills by developing moral skill and moral will to enhance ethical decision-making. Given practical wisdom’s importance, the authors further examine its role in the experiential learning process and how experiential learning activities like the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) curricular offering can bring practical wisdom and soft skills into the classroom with modest effort and investment. Through the application of the GVV methodology to a case study, the authors demonstrate how practical wisdom can be used in accounting education to support and advance accounting students’ moral and skill development, and accounting educators looking to do so can use this chapter as a starting point.

Details

Research on Professional Responsibility and Ethics in Accounting
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-229-2

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 April 2020

Miftachul Huda, Nasrul Hisyam Nor Muhamad, Puji Isyanto, Razaleigh Muhamat, Nurazmallail Marni, Mohamed Ahmad Kilani and Jimaain Safar

Increasing diversity leads to local, national and transnational challenges requiring a novel and explicit problem-solving approach. Practical wisdom, which emerges from an…

Abstract

Purpose

Increasing diversity leads to local, national and transnational challenges requiring a novel and explicit problem-solving approach. Practical wisdom, which emerges from an integration knowledge and ability through religious awareness, can promote peaceful coexistence in diverse societies with adequate theological and educational infrastructures. This paper aims to critically examine practical wisdom as the religious awareness to underlying building harmony in the diverse society.

Design/methodology/approach

Literature from refereed and peer-reviewed journals and articles was reviewed using thematic topic analysis to propose a model of the practical wisdom as a foundation for building harmony in a diverse society.

Findings

This result shows that there are several discussions with specific objectives of practical wisdom as the result of core understanding of religious awareness underlying the potential solutions in the diverse society; the significant essence of practical wisdom as the core element for building harmony; exploring how practical wisdom should be a wide particular element in building integrity and harmony in the diverse society.

Originality/value

Practical wisdom can establish peaceful and respectful relations amongst diverse segments of the population. It is, therefore, crucial for scholars and practitioners to explore practical wisdom in depth and devise ways of promoting this important characteristic at a social level through the exchange of common ideas and goals.

Details

International Journal of Ethics and Systems, vol. 36 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9369

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1989

Thomas M. Jeannot

Book VI of Aristotle′s Nicomachean Ethics is commented on,aimed at showing its relevance to some themes in contemporary moralphilosophy. It is argued that the classical approach…

Abstract

Book VI of Aristotle′s Nicomachean Ethics is commented on, aimed at showing its relevance to some themes in contemporary moral philosophy. It is argued that the classical approach to morality (Aristotle) and the Enlightened approach (Kant) need not compose antinomy. Instead, the Aristotelian emphases on the development of virtuous character and the nature of practical wisdom coalesce with the Kantian emphasis on autonomy – what Falk calls “responsible self‐direction” – in the person of the moral leader. In particular, great moralists have recognised that moral wisdom is not mainly a matter of strict obedience to rules. While rules have their place, the subject matter of ethics cannot be determined by a quasi‐mathematical formalism. Over‐emphasis on the formalism of the categorical imperative obscures Kant′s more fundamental emphasis on autonomy. The autonomous person, able to exercise moral leadership, cultivates the Aristotelian virtue of phronēsis.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 16 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 February 2024

Alexander Serenko

The purpose of this Real Impact Research Article is to empirically explore one of the most controversial and elusive concepts in knowledge management research – practical wisdom

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this Real Impact Research Article is to empirically explore one of the most controversial and elusive concepts in knowledge management research – practical wisdom. It develops a 10-dimensional practical wisdom construct and tests it within the nomological network of counterproductive and productive knowledge behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey instrument was created based on the extant literature. A model was developed and tested by means of Partial Least Squares with data obtained from 200 experienced employees recruited from CloudResearch Connect crowdsourcing platform.

Findings

Practical wisdom is a multidimensional construct that may be operationalized and measured like other well-established knowledge management concepts. Practical wisdom guides employee counterproductive and productive knowledge behavior: it suppresses knowledge sabotage and knowledge hiding (whether general, evasive, playing dumb, rationalized or bullying) and promotes knowledge sharing. While all proposed dimensions contribute to employee practical wisdom, particularly salient are subject matter expertise, moral purpose in decision-making, self-reflection in the workplace and external reflection in the workplace. Unexpectedly, practical wisdom facilitates knowledge hoarding instead of reducing it.

Practical implications

Managers should realize that possessing practical wisdom is not limited to a group of select, high-level executives. Organizations may administer the practical wisdom questionnaire presented in this study to their workers to identify those who score the lowest, and invest in employee training programs that focus on the development of those attributes pertaining to the practical wisdom dimensions.

Originality/value

The concept of practical wisdom is a controversial topic that has both detractors and supporters. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first large-scale empirical study of practical wisdom in the knowledge management domain.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 5 December 2014

Claudius Bachmann

Dealing with the issue of “Can practical wisdom be taught in business schools?,” in this chapter, I argue for an inquiry-based learning approach as a way of improving today’s…

Abstract

Dealing with the issue of “Can practical wisdom be taught in business schools?,” in this chapter, I argue for an inquiry-based learning approach as a way of improving today’s management education. Following along these lines, I initially focus on the current criticism of today’s management education in business schools. Then, I provide an introduction into the recent interest in the topic of practical wisdom by management scholars that emerged as part of an effort to overcome these failures of business schools. These attempts, however, remain on a rather vague or theoretical level and are lacking helpful guidance on how universities might implement this concept into their educational offerings. In order to remedy these shortcomings, I introduce a competency-based three-pillar model of practical wisdom and combine it with an inquiry-based learning approach. A comprehensive scheme highlights how the particular competencies of practical wisdom can be fostered over the successive stages of the inquiry process. Most importantly, by describing a MA-thesis program as a successful example of these ideas in application, I provide concrete suggestions of how to facilitate the growth of practically wise competencies by means of an inquiry-based learning approach.

Details

Inquiry-Based Learning for the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences: A Conceptual and Practical Resource for Educators
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-236-4

Article
Publication date: 22 March 2022

Andrew West and Sherrena Buckby

Recognising the growing importance of professional judgement within professional accounting, this paper examines how it relates to Aristotelian practical wisdom, with reference to…

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Abstract

Purpose

Recognising the growing importance of professional judgement within professional accounting, this paper examines how it relates to Aristotelian practical wisdom, with reference to the ethical failure at Carillion plc in 2018. This includes an examination of how these concepts are similar and how they differ and a reconceptualisation of professional judgement in Aristotelian terms.

Design/methodology/approach

The conventional understanding of professional judgement is articulated with reference to accounting standards, professional accounting institutions and academic research. This is compared to Aristotelian practical wisdom, as presented in the Nicomachean Ethics. Both of these conceptualisations are analysed with reference to the failure of Carillion plc.

Findings

Some similarities as well as significant differences between the conventional conceptualisation of professional judgement and Aristotelian practical wisdom are identified. Application to the accounting failure of Carillion plc shows how an Aristotelian reconceptualisation of professional judgement, as an ethical concept, provides a more adequate understanding of unethical accounting behaviour.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis identifies aspects of professional judgement in accounting that have not previously been explored empirically, but which nevertheless have empirical support in other domains.

Practical implications

Professional judgement is reconceptualised in ethical terms, which informs how professional bodies and firms should conceive and apply this concept.

Originality/value

Although there has been research on judgement informed by psychology, there has been little research linking judgement and wisdom in an accounting context. This paper utilises a philosophically informed perspective on wisdom to reconceptualise professional judgement in a way that provides a more adequate understanding of ethical failures.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 36 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 July 2010

Gilbert Lenssen

In turbulent times like these, practical wisdom from the religious and spiritual traditions can provide new grounding. In the Christian tradition, practical wisdom can be derived…

776

Abstract

Purpose

In turbulent times like these, practical wisdom from the religious and spiritual traditions can provide new grounding. In the Christian tradition, practical wisdom can be derived from exegesis of New Testament texts. Text exegesis can be integrated in executive education/formation, even in secular settings. This paper aims to discuss the issues.

Design/methodology/approach

A symbolic narrative method is applied to demonstrate how practical wisdom can be discerned from religious texts. Transposed to an interfaith or secular environment, the use of exegesis in executive formation is explained based on Winnicott's theory of transitional objects.

Findings

Christian social ethics could be enriched by a renewed interest in wisdom that sources itself in biblical exegesis. This interdisciplinary paper explores the nature of practical wisdom as inspired by biblical exegesis applying a symbolic‐narrative method. This method is applied within the context of a humanistic Christology that reveals the wisdom of Jesus in his human capacity. This is illustrated by the exegesis of the New Testament text “The feeding of the five thousand”. In a conclusion and outlook the value of interfaith text exegesis in management education in a secular context is explored based on the personal experience of the author in executive formation.

Originality/value

Interdisciplinarity combined with methodological rigor in a biblical approach to practical wisdom is highlighted in the paper.

Details

Journal of Management Development, vol. 29 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0262-1711

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 July 2008

Jennifer Rowley and Paul Gibbs

Although the notion of wisdom confronts the economic rationale of business organizations, this paper aims to argue that organizations are coming under increasing pressure not only…

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Abstract

Purpose

Although the notion of wisdom confronts the economic rationale of business organizations, this paper aims to argue that organizations are coming under increasing pressure not only to learn, change and adapt, but also to take actions that are ethically acceptable and respond to the expectations of multiple stakeholders, or in other words to act wisely. Accordingly this article seeks to progress the debate on the relationship between organizational learning, learning organizations and wisdom, in pursuit of a new version of the model of the learning organization, the practically wise organization.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the literature on the learning organization and organizational learning is reviewed with a view to the identification of useful models and concepts. The paucity of reference to wisdom in that literature is noted. The following sections develop the theme of practical wisdom and, the essence of the practically wise organization, respectively. Finally a model for the practically wise organization that is both a virtuous and a learning organization is proposed.

Findings

The paper finds that a practically wise organization is a learning organization whose learning architecture is based on the principles of practical wisdom. Such an organization manages the processes associated with the seven pillars of wisdom: understanding dynamic complexity; developing personal wisdom competency; deliberating towards ethical models; refreshing shared sustainable vision; group wisdom dynamics; deliberated praxis; and embodied learning.

Originality/value

The article is a first step towards extending the theory and practice associated with the learning organization and organizational learning to embrace the multi‐stakeholder, ethically and morally informed perspectives embedded in the notion of practical wisdom.

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. 15 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 March 2022

Raysa Geaquinto Rocha, Florian Kragulj and Paulo Pinheiro

This paper aims to stress the importance of practical wisdom (phronesis) for the knowledge management field. It is a relevant intellectual and ethical resource for responding to…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to stress the importance of practical wisdom (phronesis) for the knowledge management field. It is a relevant intellectual and ethical resource for responding to recent changes in the business environment and for responsibly and sustainably aligning organizations for the future. Organizations must find ways to reconcile social, environmental and economic goals and meet different and conflicting stakeholder needs. To this end, the authors challenge knowledge management researchers to feature practical wisdom as an enabler for responsible knowledge management built on solid ethical foundations.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors introduce the concept of phronesis, reaching from Aristotle’s The Nicomachean Ethics to Nonaka and Takeuchi’s The Wise Company. Based on a systematic review of the literature, the authors performed a bibliometric analysis. Moreover, the authors discuss the findings and offer avenues for future research.

Findings

The results provide an overview of the research on phronesis in the knowledge management field. It points out the leading articles and journals (e.g. Journal of Business Ethics and Journal of Knowledge Management). Likewise, it identifies thematic areas, i.e. knowledge management field, knowledge dynamics, organizational wisdom, leadership and followership, corporate social responsibility and red flags.

Originality/value

In this essay, the authors advise practical wisdom as a promising candidate for advancing the field of knowledge management towards responsible knowledge management. To pursue this, the authors propose to address instability and continuous change through practical wisdom and outline a research agenda to guide further research.

Details

VINE Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems, vol. 52 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5891

Keywords

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