Theory and practice: the revolution in political judgement

Bourke, Richard

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511605468.004

Cited by 16 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…For them all, justifying a reconfiguration of organizational arrangements on the presumed superiority of a speculative norm or "principle" is the business of a metaphysics of morals as opposed to a prudent and pragmatic empirical organizational analysis. As we have already had cause to note, this is not a novel conclusion, in organizational theory, as elsewhere (in political theory, for instance: see Bourke, 2009). In 1946, Herbert Simon made an important intervention in organization theory along precisely these lines.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 76%

Exploitation, Exploration and Exaltation: Notes on a Metaphysical (Re)turn to ‘One Best Way of Organizing’

Vikkelsø¹

2012

Managing ‘Human Resources’ by Exploiting and Exploring People’s Potentials

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For many years within Organization Studies, broadly conceived, there was general agreement concerning the pitfalls of assuming a 'one best way of organizing'. Organizations, it was argued, must balance different criteria of (e)valuation against one anothere.g. 'exploitation' and 'exploration'depending on the situation at hand. However, in recent years a pre-commitment to values of a certain sortexpressed in a preference for innovation, improvisation and entrepreneurship over other criteriahas emerged within the field, thus shifting the terms of debate concerning organizational survival and flourishing firmly onto the terrain of 'exploration'. This shift has been accompanied by the return of what we describe as a 'metaphysical stance' within Organization Studies. In this article we highlight some of the problems attendant upon the return of metaphysics to the field of organizational analysis, and the peculiar re-emergence of a 'one best way of organizing' that it engenders. In so doing, we re-visit two classic examples of what we describe as 'the empirical stance' within organization theorythe work of Wilfred Brown on bureaucratic hierarchy, on the one hand, and that of Paul Lawrence & Jay Lorsch on integration and differentiation, on the otherin order to highlight the continuing importance of March's argument that any organization is a balancing act between different and non-reducible criteria of (e)valuation, and that the proper balance is not something that can be theoretically deduced nor metaphysically framed, but should be based on a concrete description of the situation at hand.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 76%

Exploitation, Exploration and Exaltation: Notes on a Metaphysical (Re)turn to ‘One Best Way of Organizing’

Vikkelsø¹

2012

Managing ‘Human Resources’ by Exploiting and Exploring People’s Potentials

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“…It has been suggested by scholars sympathetic to realism, however, that a constructive way forward will be to turn to history, and particularly the history of 1 Important contributions to the realist debate include Williams 2005, Geuss 2008Bavister-Gould 2013;Forrester 2012;Freeden 2012;Galston 2010;Horton 2010;Hall 2014Hall , 2015Stears and Honig 2011;Jubb 2014Jubb , 2015Larmore 2013;Freyenhagen 2011;Philp 2010Philp , 2012Rossi 2012Rossi , 2013Runciman 2017;Sangiovanni 2008aSangiovanni , 2008bScheuerman 2013;Stears 2005Stears , 2007Sleat 2010Sleat , 2011Sleat , 2014Sleat , 2016 On why Geuss and Williams may, however, be importantly different from their realist 'successors', due to their starting from a fundamental rejection of prevailing notions of what morality itself is, see Hall and Sleat (2017). political thought, for materials germane to making progress (Geuss 2001;Williams, 2005: 90-6; 2014; Waldron 2013Waldron , 2016Bourke 2009;Sagar, 2016a;Runciman, 2017). 2 Unfortunately this has so far remained a largely general suggestion, not substantiated beyond piecemeal, albeit often insightful, interventions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But it has only just begun, and the definite shape of any constructive realist alternative remains obscure. It has been suggested by scholars sympathetic to realism, however, that a constructive way forward will be to turn to history, and particularly the history of political thought, for materials germane to making progress (Bourke, 2009; Geuss, 2001; Runciman, 2017; Sagar, 2016a; Waldron, 2013, 2016; Williams, 2005: 90–96; Williams, 2014). 2 Unfortunately this has so far remained a largely general suggestion, not substantiated beyond piecemeal, albeit often insightful, interventions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

István Hont and political theory

Sagar

2018

European Journal of Political Theory

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This article explores the relevance of the work of Cambridge historian of political thought István Hont to contemporary political theory. Specifically, it suggests that Hont’s work can be of great help to the recent realist revival in political theory, in particular via its lending support to the account favoured by Bernard Williams, which has been a major source for recent realist work. The article seeks to make explicit the main political theoretic implications of Hont’s historically-focused work, which in their original formulations are not always easy to discern, as well as itself being a positive contribution to realist theorizing, moving beyond a merely negative critique of dominant moralist positions.

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Another Realism: The Politics of Gandhian Nonviolence

Мантена

2012

Am Polit Sci Rev

153

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A lthough Gandhi is often taken to be an exemplary moral idealist in politics, this article seeks to demonstrate that Gandhian nonviolence is premised on a form of political realism, specifically a contextual, consequentialist, and moral-psychological analysis of a political world understood to be marked by inherent tendencies toward conflict, domination, and violence. By treating nonviolence as the essential analog and correlative response to a realist theory of politics, one can better register the novelty of satyagraha (nonviolent action) as a practical orientation in politics as opposed to a moral proposition, ethical stance, or standard of judgment. The singularity of satyagraha lays in its self-limiting character as a form of political action that seeks to constrain the negative consequences of politics while working toward progressive social and political reform. Gandhian nonviolence thereby points toward a transformational realism that need not begin and end in conservatism, moral equivocation, or pure instrumentalism.

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Theory and practice: the revolution in political judgement

Cited by 16 publications

References 0 publications

Exploitation, Exploration and Exaltation: Notes on a Metaphysical (Re)turn to ‘One Best Way of Organizing’

Exploitation, Exploration and Exaltation: Notes on a Metaphysical (Re)turn to ‘One Best Way of Organizing’

István Hont and political theory

Another Realism: The Politics of Gandhian Nonviolence

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