Izak, Michal (2011) The foolishness of wisdom: exploring a post-structural framework for wisdom in organization. In: Critical Management Studies Conference, 11-13 July 2011, Naples, Italy.

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Abstract

The review of multiple attempts to develop an understanding of wisdom suggests that its interpretations are numerous, divergent and typically structuralist. Many popular essentialist accounts imply interpreting wisdom in terms of other notions, such as knowledge or intelligence, however this path of reasoning leads to the incommensurability between discourses in which wisdom is discussed and invites suspicions regarding the promulgated relevance of wisdom for organization studies. Author’s empirical qualitative research on Organizational Spirituality aids application of March’s ‘technology of foolishness’ to the critical examination of rationalistically oriented theories of wisdom and helps to demonstrate the unworkability of pervading essentialist concepts. The tensions inherent in conceptual frameworks from which allegedly opposite notions of ‘wisdom’ and ‘foolishness’ originate, are investigated via social constructionist approach for the potential benefit of organization studies. As a result, a more inclusive, poststructuralist framework for organizational research on wisdom is proposed.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Additional Information:	The review of multiple attempts to develop an understanding of wisdom suggests that its interpretations are numerous, divergent and typically structuralist. Many popular essentialist accounts imply interpreting wisdom in terms of other notions, such as knowledge or intelligence, however this path of reasoning leads to the incommensurability between discourses in which wisdom is discussed and invites suspicions regarding the promulgated relevance of wisdom for organization studies. Author’s empirical qualitative research on Organizational Spirituality aids application of March’s ‘technology of foolishness’ to the critical examination of rationalistically oriented theories of wisdom and helps to demonstrate the unworkability of pervading essentialist concepts. The tensions inherent in conceptual frameworks from which allegedly opposite notions of ‘wisdom’ and ‘foolishness’ originate, are investigated via social constructionist approach for the potential benefit of organization studies. As a result, a more inclusive, poststructuralist framework for organizational research on wisdom is proposed.
Keywords:	Berlin Wisdom Paradigm, Organizational Spirituality, Scientific process, Social Constructionist approach, Technology of foolishness, Wisdom
Subjects:	N Business and Administrative studies > N200 Management studies
Divisions:	College of Social Sciences > Faculty of Business & Law > Lincoln Business School
Depositing User:	Michal Izak
Date Deposited:	30 Sep 2011 14:55
Last Modified:	13 Mar 2013 09:02
URI:	http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/4693

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