Phronēsis: Putting Wisdom Into Action. An Aristotelian Perspective of Management Wisdom in the Hotel Industry
type: CreativeWork
description: To date, there have been few studies concerning the practice and development of wise management (phronēsis) in contemporary organisations. The management literature, while acknowledging the need for wisdom, has instead focused on instrumental and economic rationality and has either categorised concepts of wisdom as irrational and fanciful, or ignored wisdom altogether. Moreover, although the rationality that drives organisations to achieve competitive advantage for economic ends - but often denies human well-being - is being called into question, it is evident that wisdom remains a misunderstood and misrepresented practice. Therefore, this study adopts an Aristotelian perspective to investigate wise management practice within the hotel environment. The research explores the purpose and values that influence hotel management decision making, what is considered wise management practice, how the development of wisdom is enabled or obstructed, and how the development of wisdom can be supported by organisations. To meet the research purpose and aims, a qualitative phronetic social science (PhSS) approach was applied within this study. Responding to Flyvbjerg’s (2001) call for further refinement of the theoretical and methodological positioning of PhSS, this study applies elements of critical theory alongside PhSS. It also adopts a dynamic ontology that negotiates between theoretical and pragmatic approaches while critically evaluating the social and political environment from the perspective and ethic of phronēsis. This approach leads to a dialectic epistemology constructed through dialogue and deliberation between the respondents and researcher. Following PhSS, case study methods were used to obtain data from two hotel group cases involving 24 in-depth interviews with hotel manager and analysis of company documents. Application of PhSS provided a novel approach to the study of wise management practice within a commercial hospitality context. The findings reveal that the…
abstract: To date, there have been few studies concerning the practice and development of wise management (phronēsis) in contemporary organisations. The management literature, while acknowledging the need for wisdom, has instead focused on instrumental and economic rationality and has either categorised concepts of wisdom as irrational and fanciful, or ignored wisdom altogether. Moreover, although the rationality that drives organisations to achieve competitive advantage for economic ends - but often denies human well-being - is being called into question, it is evident that wisdom remains a misunderstood and misrepresented practice. Therefore, this study adopts an Aristotelian perspective to investigate wise management practice within the hotel environment. The research explores the purpose and values that influence hotel management decision making, what is considered wise management practice, how the development of wisdom is enabled or obstructed, and how the development of wisdom can be supported by organisations. To meet the research purpose and aims, a qualitative phronetic social science (PhSS) approach was applied within this study. Responding to Flyvbjerg’s (2001) call for further refinement of the theoretical and methodological positioning of PhSS, this study applies elements of critical theory alongside PhSS. It also adopts a dynamic ontology that negotiates between theoretical and pragmatic approaches while critically evaluating the social and political environment from the perspective and ethic of phronēsis. This approach leads to a dialectic epistemology constructed through dialogue and deliberation between the respondents and researcher. Following PhSS, case study methods were used to obtain data from two hotel group cases involving 24 in-depth interviews with hotel manager and analysis of company documents. Application of PhSS provided a novel approach to the study of wise management practice within a commercial hospitality context. The findings reveal that the…
author: Goodsir, Warren
keywords: Phronesis, Wisdom, Management, Hospitality, Decision making, Ethics
date published: 2018
date modified: 2026-07-27T18:46:13Z
provider: AUT University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: AUT University