From marginalization to phronetic science: Toward a new role for critical management studies
Journal of Organizational Change Management
ISSN: 0953-4814
Article publication date: 28 August 2009
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how critical management studies' (CMS) awkward relationship with the world of practice may have allowed it to become a dominated field in academia, which features a nearly exclusive focus on research for theory's sake, a lack of interest or discomfort with practical applications, and a devaluing of non‐academic pursuits. Despite research on oppression, resistance, and emancipation, CMS scholars do not tend to focus on the field's own domination or to ensure that its emancipatory agenda offers any practical impact.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper loosely draws on Bourdieu's notions of habitus and symbolic violence to make sense of his experience of attempting to fit in the CMS community as a scholar interested in practical applications of CMS insights.
Findings
The paper argues that CMS is uniquely positioned to help organization studies become a phronetic science, both practical and capable of addressing questions of power and values, essential to management practice.
Practical implications
The estrangement between theory and practice in CMS is symptomatic of the same phenomenon in the broader organization studies community.
Originality/value
The paper addresses not only how CMS can become a more phronetic science but also the benefits of phronetic research for the broader organization studies.
Keywords
Citation
Voronov, M. (2009), "From marginalization to phronetic science: Toward a new role for critical management studies", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 22 No. 5, pp. 549-566. https://doi.org/10.1108/09534810910983497
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2009, Emerald Group Publishing Limited