Why managers should develop the habit of examining their actions
Seen in philosophical terms, management is about praxis.
Among the defining characteristics of a good manager is the ability to take decisions swiftly, handle meetings efficiently and generally to improve the organization’s productivity. Time is the most valuable resource in management and must be administered efficiently: a good chairman of the board ensures that meetings cover all the topics on the agenda in good time.??
Similarly, innovative companies focus on “time to market ”, in other words, getting new services or products to customers. Most business leaders would agree that making the best use of time so that competitors must copy products or services is the best guarantee of innovation. Flexibility and speed are two pillars of successful companies.?? ?
In which case, in a business world where opinions must be formed and decisions taken on the move, how can we find time to cultivate an interest in philosophy, taking time to ponder our next move?
While philosophy ponders the fundamental questions and offers a model for life, it also pushes us to understand ideals such as liberty, justice and equality, liberal democracy, the law and economics.
The challenge many business leaders face today is finding the time to reflect on their values, and how to apply these to setting goals. Whether it’s during a long plane journey, a weekend in the country, joining a retreat or developing mindfulness techniques, we need to find a balance: action and thought are two sides of the same coin, as Iris Murdoch points out in?The Sovereignty of Good : “The task of attention goes on all the time and at apparently empty and everyday moments we are ‘looking’, making those little efforts of imagination.”?
?I hope you agree with me that philosophy is a fundamental part of human life, and thus has a role to play in the practice of management. Whether we are aware of it or not, business decisions reflect our world view, because they are based on assumptions about the meaning of business.?
Going further, I would argue that denying a link between management and our principles is an expression of a philosophy, perhaps as extreme as nihilism, cynicism or relativism, outlooks that are essentially contradictory.
Fortunately, business educators and executives now recognize the importance management theories based on core values and principles, for which they have turned to the humanities.?
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A pioneer in this regard was Ayn Rand , the American writer who attempted to rationalize individualism through the philosophy of Objectivism. Addressing West Poin t graduates in 1974, she made a speech called?Philosophy: who needs it? ,?telling her audience: “Without abstract ideas,?you would not be able to deal with concrete, particular, real-life problems. You would be in the position of a newborn infant, to whom every object is a unique, unprecedented phenomenon. The difference between his mental state and yours lies in the number of conceptual integrations your mind has performed. You have no choice about the necessity to integrate your observations, your experiences, your knowledge into abstract ideas, i.e., into principles.”?
Going further, she highlighted how a philosophic system is an integrated view of existence. “As a human being, you have no choice about the fact that you need a philosophy. Your only choice is whether you define your philosophy by a conscious, rational, disciplined process of thought and scrupulously logical deliberation — or let your subconscious accumulate a junk heap of unwarranted conclusions.”?
In other words, because everything we do reflects certain values and principles, we should take the time to identify and understand them.
One of the growing demands on entrepreneurs and managers is to justify their decisions to shareholders. Philosophy provides the arguments we need to do that by linking the decisions taken by the management of a company with a certain vision of the world, with shared values and principles, giving them meaning and facilitating their acceptance.
In addition to this strategic objective, philosophy will also give personal meaning to the individual, professional and personal trajectory of managers. It will increase their confidence and allow them to achieve greater levels of well-being and happiness.?
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1 年Philosophy is the way of life of someone who opens the eyes every morning and recognizes that opens the doors of the own "unknown" Universe. A universe that must be combined with the Universe of a multitude of people in their family, work, and social environment. And this requires Logic, Physics - scientific documentation and Ethical communication, transmission, and action so that whatever emerges will be as correct as possible and fair. Philosophy is the way to raise the light of civilization, which the lower it is maintained, the greater the shadows of "small" beliefs will be, covering people's lives with gloom.
Economist
1 年El nivel de gerencia debe demostrar gran habilidad en recursos , para tener relaciones interpersonales con sus trabajadores, que influyan positivamente , en ellos. Toma de decisiones acertivas. Si tomamos como referencia el Clima Organizacional, debe estar basado en planes y proyecciones realistas, con intervencion de la opinion de los trabajadores, para poder influenciar, adecuadamente en ellos. Pero tambien es importante recalcar que aveces se trabaja de uuna manera unidireccional, pero ahora ya tenemos. Nuevos metodos de participacion, El uso de metodos Agiles o Scrum, asimismo coaching integrativo. Pero creo firmemente que todo se ira apoyando, en los medios digitales, basados en Machine Learnig e Inteligencia Artificial, para que sirva de apoyo, y poder hacer proyecciones cada vez mas acertivas. Y anticiparnos a posibles hechos. Solo brindara informacion, es por ello que siempre se necesitara la flexibilidad y expertis de un Gerente con experiencia.