What do managers know? Wisdom and manager identity in later career

Abstract

In this article, we focus on the knowing of experienced middle managers in later career and make a twofold contribution to management learning research. First, we critically examine the construct of wisdom as a way of deepening understanding of such managers' knowing and we respond to the call to provide empirical evidence of the manifestations of wisdom in contemporary management practice. Second, we assess the managers' engagement with wisdom as a resource for identity-work. Management is increasingly conceptualised as an identity project, and we examine how managers deployed wisdom as a discursive identity resource. We show how wisdom was used to counter currently favoured normative narratives of evidence-based management and the associated subject position of the omniscient and rational, but never quite adequate, manager. We reveal how narratives of wisdom were drawn upon in constructing distinctive, valued and preferred managerial subjectivities sustainable in later career. Finally, we propose implications for management learning and manager education.

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

“…The 14 empirical studies were conducted in a limited number of countries, including the United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Finland, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan, the United States, and Brazil. The organizational context and the research object are quite diverse: managers in an itinerant circus (Beadle & Könyöt, 2006); Australian insurance call centers (Nyberg, 2008); the relationship of academic and industrial supervisors in graduate education in Sweden (Salminen‐Karlsson & Wallgren, 2008); international nonprofit organizations (Mowles, 2012); work and ethical conflicts of health workers (Phillips & Hall, 2013); and managers’ identity work (Bardon, Brown, & Pezé, 2017; Warhurst & Black, 2017). The research approaches were predominantly qualitative, which is coherent with the recommendation authors of virtue ethics, regarding narrative strategies (Pinto‐Garay, 2019; Sison, 2016).…”

“…This leads the agents to cooperate to F I G U R E 2 Magnitude and Amplitude conceptual dimensions of phronesis. Source: Elaborated by the authors make prudent decisions, to deliberate collaboratively (Nyberg, 2008;Salminen-Karlsson & Wallgren, 2008;Warhurst & Black, 2017) and to listen to the parties involved. This openness to dialogue suggests the importance of humility in prudent acts, especially throughout deliberations and decisions.…”

“…Most investigate private sector organizations (Bardon et al, 2017;Beadle & Könyöt, 2006;Muñoz & El-Hani, 2012;Nishinaka, 2016;Nyberg, 2008;Ogilvy, Nonaka, & Konno, 2014;Rämö, 2011;Salminen-Karlsson & Wallgren, 2008;Warhurst & Black, 2017).…”

“…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 significance of wisdom for managers is generally understood by the lens of identity. 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.…”