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Call for Papers
PHILOSOPHY OF MANAGEMENT 2016
The 11
th
Philosophy of Management International Conference 2016
St Anne’s College Oxford 14 – 17 July 2016
Organised by Philosophy of Management
Sponsored by University of Greenwich Business School
Philosophy of Management 2016 is the eleventh in a series of conferences open to all. It
will be of special interest to philosophers, management researchers and teachers,
consultants and practising managers.
Following our successful return last year to St Anne's College, Oxford, we decided to
remain here for another year. In accordance with our well-established model we are
designing an event to offer opportunities for unhurried presentation of papers and
discussion, high quality supportive interaction and feedback, ample opportunity for
networking and a gathering in which all participants can pursue informal, rich
conversations and the continuing exploration of shared concerns. All residential
accommodation is on the compact College campus. Participants will be limited to 75 plus
plenary speakers.
Contributions are invited to any of the Conference tracks – or on any aspect of philosophy
of management and from within any cultural or philosophical tradition. We will especially
welcome papers, panels and workshops on the relationship between philosophy and
management practice.
PUBLICATION
Short papers will be blind-reviewed and appear on the conference website.
Selected full papers will be published in Philosophy of Management, our journal published
with Springer. Important: It is a condition of acceptance that Philosophy of Management
journal has first refusal to publish accepted papers or revised versions.
Philosophy of Management journal website:
http://www.springer.com/philosophy/journal/40926
PLENARY SPEAKER/S
tbc
TRACKS
Papers combining empirical research and case studies with philosophical treatment of
issues will be particularly welcome in all tracks.
See full track details at the end of the Call.
1. Philosophies of managing diversity, equality, and inclusion
Track conveners: Marja-Liisa Kakkuri-Knuuttila, Regine Bendl, Thomas Köllen
2. Ancient philosophies
Track convener: Anindo Bhattacharjee
3. Dialogue
Track conveners: Andrea Hornett, Suzan Langenberg, Hans Wesseling
4. Philosophy of innovation, responsible innovation, and innovation ethics
Track convener: Vincent Blok
5. Philosophies of strategy
Track convener: Eva Collins
6. Aesthetics of Management
Track convener: Wim Vandekerckhove
7. Managing an ecological civilisation
Track convener: Mark Dibben
8. Neoliberalism
Track convener: Miriam Green
9. Business and society
Track convener: Rod Thomas
10.Divers
Track convener: David Carl Wilson
TIMETABLE
• 22 February 2016: submission short paper (around 1,500 words)
• 22 March 2016: notification of acceptance
• 1 June 2016: submission full paper
• 14-17 July 2016: conference
Please note that the texts of all short papers will be available before the conference on
the conference website.
TO CONTRIBUTE...
Please submit a short paper of around 1500 word with contact details and brief cv all in
one WORD (or equivalent) file to arrive by Monday 22 February 2016.
(Please do not submit full length papers at this stage.)
Please indicate the track to which you wish to contribute.
Please name your file as follows: (Your surname–Papertitle-TrackNumber).doc
Email to [email protected] CONFERENCE FORMAT
• Plenary session with invited leading speakers
• Presentations of papers in parallel sessions
• Workshops, panel discussions and interviews
• Poster presentations
We invite participants to propose collaborative formats for their sessions: eg paper,
prepared reply and moderated discussion; contrasting approaches to an issue with papers
from theorists and practitioners. Contributors are welcome to assemble small panels to
offer a series of linked papers.
LANGUAGE
The language of the conference will be English.
BEST PAPER AWARD
All full papers received by the 1 June full paper submission deadline will be considered for
the Conference Best Paper Award. Judges will be drawn from members of the Conference
Committee.
QUERIES
Please contact Dr Wim Vandekerckhove at [email protected]
BOOKING
Conference bookings are being managed by the University of Greenwich. Details will be
posted to the conference website shortly. Please address any inquiries direct to
Miss Jordan Drinan
Events Management Officer
University of Greenwich Business School
Hamilton House, 15 Park Vista, London SE10 9LZ
Telephone: +44(0)208 331 9083 Email: [email protected]
ORGANISING COMMITTEE
Wim Vandekerckhove (Chair)
Principal Lecturer, University of Greenwich Business School, London
Kit Barton
Pathway Leader, Regent's American College London
Anindo Bhattacharjee
Assistant Professor General Management, NMIMS University, Mumbai
Vincent Blok
Assistant Professor in Responsible Innovation and Sustainable Entrepreneurship
Wageningen University, The Netherlands
Eva Collins
Associate Professor, Strategy and HRM, Waikato Management School
Mark Dibben
Co-Editor, Philosophy of Management, Associate Professor School of Business &
Economics, University of Tasmania
Miriam Green
Senior Lecturer in Organisation Studies (Sessional), Icon College of Technology and
Management
Paul Griseri
Editor in Chief, Philosophy of Management, Academic Projects Manager, Middlesex
University, London
Andrea Hornett
Assistant Professor, Fox School of Business, Temple University
Marja-Liisa Kakkuri-Knuuttila
Professor of Philosophy of Management, Department of Management Studies, Aalto
University
Martin Kelly
Associate Professor, Waikato Management School
Nigel Laurie
Founding Editor, Philosophy of Management, Visiting Professor, Royal Holloway School
of Management, Managing Partner, London Facilitators
Rod Thomas
Senior Lecturer and MBA Programme Leader Newcastle Business School
David Carl Wilson
Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, Webster University
FULL TRACK DESCRIPTIONS
1. Philosophies of managing diversity, equality, and inclusion
Marja-Liisa Kakkuri-Knuuttila (Aalto University) Regine Bendl (Vienna University of Economics and Business)
Thomas Köllen (Vienna University of Economics and Business) Within Western countries more and more organizations are following some kind of “diversity
management” approach. These various approaches are based on different assumptions about the
nature of society, the role of the individual within the society, and the human being in general. Most
of these approaches attach certain moral worth to the concept of equality and the related goal of
an “adequate” inclusion of the organizational workforce diversity.
Against this background this track invites papers (but is not limited to) to a broad range of topics,
such as:
• Philosophies on the notion and moral worth of equality and inequality. Can (certain)
organizational inequalities be “just” or morally acceptable? Is equality a moral category at all?
• Philosophical assumptions underlying ways of managing diversity, such as affirmative action and
the empowering of socially underprivileged groups, quota systems, opening up new and diverse
markets, awareness training, etc.
• Analysis of principles of handling the different dimensions of diversity in management context,
such as age, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, nationality, religion, race, ethnicity,
social class, disabilities, etc.
• Philosophies on the role of the individual within the discourse of diversity, equality, and inclusion.
• Does management and organizations have any kind of ethical “responsibilities” towards diversity,
equality, or inclusion?
• Areas of conflict and consent between different philosophies of economics and business (e.g.
market liberalism) and the significance of issues of diversity, equality, and inclusion.
• Notions of diversity in the history of philosophy.
2. Ancient philosophies
Anindo Bhattacharjee (NMIMS University Mumbai)
In recent years, there has been growing debate over the relevance and sustainability of the
existing management paradigms. Post the financial crisis of 2008, the various economic and
management paradigms have been severely criticised for their viability in the contemporary world.
One of the solutions that emerged out of these debates was increasing the use of philosophy in the
development of the foundational principles of management. This track creates scope for
intellectual and practical discussions on how to apply the timeless principles of the most ancient
philosophical traditions on the planet to arrive at new perspectives for contemporary management
that are more holistic, inclusive, responsible, sustainable and culturally relevant.
An indicative list of the schools of thought in Ancient Philosophy from various traditions and their
possible areas of relevance in business is provided below. The list is only indicative, and so we are
also open to submissions about any other element of ancient philosophy that has not been
covered in the list but has important relevance to the study and practice of business and
management.
Sample ancient philosophical traditions:
• Ancient Occidental Philosophy
• Pre-Socratic, ClassicalGreek, Hellenistic schools, Neo-Platonism,etc.
• Ancient Faith-based traditions
• Christianity, Islam, Sufism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Jewish traditions, Zoroastrianism, etc.
• Ancient Oriental Philosophy
• Vedanta, Samkhya, Nyaya, Confucianism, Daoism, Zen, etc.
• Other Ancient Philosophies
• Ancient Egyptians, Shamanism, Mayan, Aztec, etc.
• Philosophy from Ancient literary works
3. Dialogue
Andrea Hornett (Temple University)
Suzan Langenberg (Diversity, Campus Gelbergen) Hans Wesseling (Denkfabriek HR&Ethiek)
Why is the whole less than the sum of its parts? We know groups can be dysfunctional (Bion;
Harvey). Yet we suspect that group sensemaking is the only viable approach to wicked problems
(Churchman). Are there endemic ontological barriers to effective group dialogue? How can
dialogue enhance group sensemaking? What can criticism, contradiction, conflict add to the
process of mutual understanding (Foucault; Beyers)? How can we understand the singulier-pluriel
(Nancy) in relation to group dynamics? Is dialogue more than an uncoordinated improvisation?
This conference track seeks short papers (of about 1,500 words) concerning group sense making
(Weick) and/or dialogue (Bohm, Beyers). Our goal is to further develop conceptual frames by
actually engaging during the conference in group dialogue about your topics. Presentations will be
brief and serve to “set the stage.” Emphasis will be on taking time to promote mutual
understanding. Our expectation is that participation in this track will advance your writing of a full
treatment after the conference.
We will connect sub-themes in each session. Our intention is continuous group sense making
interactivity throughout the conference track. Our strategy is to further the understanding of
philosophy of management by exploring constructs related to thinking in groups.
4. Philosophy of innovation, responsible innovation, and innovation ethics
Vincent Blok (Wageningen University)
Responsible Innovation is an emerging concept to consider ethical and social aspects during
innovation processes, which will lead to technological innovations that are socially desirable and
ethically acceptable (von Schomberg 2013; Matter 2011), in juxtaposition of the more traditional
objectives of innovation like economic growth, profit maximization, competitive advantage etc.
Because the concept of responsible innovation is relatively new and still evolving in different
directions (cf. Owen et al. 2013; van den Hoven et al. 2014), there are several under-researched
areas. One of them is the philosophical underpinning of the concept of innovation and related
concepts in the field of responsible innovation (Blok and Lemmens, 2015). In the context of the
Philosophy of Management conference, the following research areas are of special interest:
- Philosophical reflections on central notions of innovation, such as the idea of novelty. Originally,
innovations concerned novelties in the broadest sense of the word – including imitation,
invention, creative imagination, change – while it became only recently restricted to technological
innovation and commercialized innovation. Nowadays, it is almost self-evident that innovation
does not only concern the exploration of new technologies, but also the commercial exploitation
of these new technologies (Blok and Lemmens, 2015).
- Philosophical reflections of the advantages and disadvantages of the economic paradigm in the
development of the concept of technological innovations (Godin, 2009), the relation between
innovation and economic growth/de-growth, and the advantages of alternative
conceptualizations, like free and open source, commons based peer-to-peer (p2p) innovation
strategies etc.
Conceptualization of the ‘Faustian’ aspect of innovation and its implication for the concept of
responsible innovation. According to Schumpeter, innovation is the product of creative
destruction. The construction of new and innovative solutions is accompanied by the
destruction of the old rules and the old order, i.e. the positive impact of responsible
innovation is accompanied by negative impacts elsewhere. This Faustian aspect of
innovation processes is largely ignored by the responsible innovation literature (Blok and
Lemmens, 2015)
- Philosophical reflections on the concept of foresight in case of unknown future impacts of
innovation processes, conceptualizations of the unknown unknown in innovation, for instance as
l’avenir, alternative forms of foresight in case of unknown unknown future impacts like
hermeneutics etc. (cf. Grinbaum and Groves, 2013).
- Philosophical reflections on the concept of ethical responsibility in case of innovations with
unknown and unintended consequences, for instance in terms of an ethics of care (cf. Pelle
and Reber, 2015), Jonas’ imperative of responsibility or Levinas’ concept of unconditional
responsibility.
Critical reflection on the concept of public participation in the formation of societal and
ethical norms for responsible innovation and the role of power in controversial issues like
GM, nanotechnology or synthetic biology (Blok, 2014; Macnaghten and Chilvers, 2013; Rip,
1986)
Given the importance of the emerging field of responsible innovation, this call for papers aims to
deepen philosophers’, ethicists’ and management scholars’ understanding of the philosophical
underpinnings of the concept and its application. Therefore, we encourage submission of papers
that tackle a broad range of questions, including (but not limited to) the aforementioned areas of
special interest.
References
Blok, V., 2014. Look who's talking: responsible innovation, the paradox of dialogue and the voice of
the other in communication and negotiation processes. Journal of Responsible Innovation
1, 171-190.
Blok, V. & Lemmens, P., 2015. The Emerging Concept of Responsible Innovation: Three Reasons
Why it is Questionable and Calls for a Radical Transformation of the Concept of Innovation
in: Koops, E.J., van den Hoven, J., Romijn, H.A., Swierstra, T.E. & Oosterlaken, I. (Eds.),
Responsible Innovation: Issues in Conceptualization, Governance and Implementation.
Springer, Dordrecht: 19-35.
Godin, B. 2009. Innovation: The History of a Category (Working paper)
Grinbaum, A. & Groves, C. 2013, What is “Responsible” about Responsible Innovation?
Understanding the Ethical Issues. In Responsible Innovation, ed. R. Owen, M. Heintz & J.
Bessant. London: John Wiley.
Matter. 2011. A report on responsible research and innovation (download: https://ec.europa.eu/
research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/rri-report-hilary-sutcliffe_en.pdf) .
Macnaghten, P., & Chilvers, J. 2013. The Future of Science Governance: Publics, Policies,
Practice. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 31.
Owen, R., Heintz, M. & Bessant, J.(eds.) 2013. Responsible Innovation. London: John Wiley
Pelle, S. & Reber, B., 2015. Responsible Innovation in the Light of Moral Responsibility. Journal of
Chain and Network Science 12.
Rip, A. 1986. Controversies as Informal Technology Assessment. Knowledge: Creation, Diffusion,
Utilization 8 (2): 349–371.
Schomberg, R. von 2013. A vision of Responsible Research and Innovation. In Responsible
Innovation, ed. Owen, R., Heintz, M. &Bessant, J. London: John Wiley: 51-74
Van den Hoven, J. Doorn, N., Swierstra, T., Koops, B.-J. & Romijn, H. (eds.). 2014, Responsible
Innovation I: Innovative Solutions for Global Issues. Dordrecht: Springer
5. Philosophies of strategy
Eva Collins (Waikato Management School)
Strategic management at its core is a philosophical undertaking, providing coherent logic for
making choices and a framework for thinking. This track invites papers that explore the crossover between philosophy and strategy.
Contributions on any aspect will be welcomed including the following:
• Philosophical foundations of strategy
• The link between managerial level and strategic philosophy
• Philosophical dimensions of strategy formulation
• Approaches and techniques for developing philosophical skills in non-philosophers contributing
to strategic decision makers
• Integrating philosophical considerations into strategic planning
• The philosophy of competitive advantage
• Philosophy of management and emerging strategic challenges such as sustainability
6. Aesthetics of Management
Wim Vandekerckhove (University of Greenwich)
This track welcomes papers that explore the sensate and symbolic elements of management.
Bathurst (2009 in Philosophy of Management) examined the contributions of early Enlightenment
writers Vico, Baumgarten, and Kant to the current field of organisational aesthetics. We solicit
papers that build on Bathurst’s explorations or extend the scope to include other philosophers who
can help us in our attempts to address both persisting and new problems in/of management.
We equally welcome papers that use a Guattarian lens to understand organisation and
management as machinic assemblages. Lazzarato’s critique of cognitive capitalism in Signs and
Machines (2014, MIT Press) is an excellent example of how aesthetics of management can be
explored by pursuing signifying semiotics in management.
Example topics include:
• Representations of management; representations of what is managed
• Narrating management: how managers reincarnate as leaders
• Designing management: from division of labour to division of play
• Imagining and managing integration: vertical, horizontal, full-stack, top-stack
• Managing boundaries: collaboration inside, market outside; common goal, common good
• Signs of managerial status: dress, taste, and gym
• etc
7. Managing an ecological civilisation
Mark Dibben (University of Tasmania)
This track starts with the assertion that management is in fact a naturally occurring phenomenon of
Nature, as Dibben and D’Arcy have expressed it in a recent article entitled ‘Process and Business
Management’ (2015): “[W]e are not the only species that engages in management. Most all
creatures engage in managing their environment, by making shelter / having special places where
they rest and reproduce, finding and storing food and even creating paths that run to and from the
food and the shelter. Insects, spiders, birds, fish, reptiles, and mammals all practice management
to some degree. Management is therefore better understood as inherent in Nature, a Universal
aspect of Purposeful Life.” But only Homo sapiens has turned management to a destructive effect,
to the extent the post Industrial Revolution, and certainly the post-Hiroshima era, of the Earth’s
existence is now officially described as ‘the Anthropocene’; it seems our species alone has used
management to make the sort of seismic changes to the biosphere previously reserved only to
volcanic activity! Management is the means by which we have implemented economic policies
focused on the growth that underpins this impact. It is our species’ practice of management that
has been the architect of the remarkable ‘success’ of the past three hundred years that has
plunged the planet into ecological crisis. Why is this?
One of the fundamental assumptions of our time is that economic growth is the universal panacea.
Continuous economic growth is “somehow entrenched as the natural objective of collective human
effort”, placing us on a ‘Collision Course’ (Higgs, 2015) with the planet – only one of the effects of
which is global warming. It follows that Homo sapiens’ management practices of the Twentieth
Century, geared in large part towards delivering that economic growth through industrialisation,
can largely be held to blame for the effects we are now witnessing. To extend Nigel Laurie’s
frequent observation that managed organisations are the medium in which increasing amounts of
human activity are pursued – and there wouldn’t appear to be any likely significant alternative to
the managed type of organisation on the horizon, we suggest management as a practice is the
only means we have at our disposal for intervening in the world to actually make a difference. As
but one example, just as soon as an environmental scientist decides to move from describing what
she sees to actually intervening for change, she is no longer engaged in environmental science,
but instead environmental management. Thus, it is possible to practice management with a
different purpose than economic growth. Nonetheless it is true to say that the predominant type of
management in practice today is a Western Management focused on delivering a capitalist
economic imperative. And so we suggest it is high time we tried to rethink and reimagine
management to focus not so much on delivering economic prosperity, but rather on delivering a
very different understanding of what prosperity will need to be in the future. A particular type of
Management has led us into this crisis, and only a different type of management can lead us out of
it. We need to work out what that ‘different type’ might be, and how it might be.
Management thus vitally needs philosophical scrutiny and creative philosophical thought simply
because it is so significant a human activity (even if all its impacts were thought of as wholly
benign!). New philosophies of management are urgently required; a sticking plaster will not
suffice...
As one suggestion, a new mode of management thought might take into consideration a more
comprehensive, relational approach, supportive of a more integral way of life and ‘business’. We
therefore invite papers that: a) genuinely use philosophy to seriously question contemporary
thinking in Management, as well as the role and impact of business ‘When Corporations Rule the
Word’ (Korten, 2015); crucially, b) suggest alternative ways of imagining management – and
growth – that might deliver solutions to the ‘Unprecedented’ (Griffin, 2015) and economically-driven
costs and crises we are now witnessing, and therefore c) provide radical new ideas that offer a
(hopefully but not necessarily positive) glimpse of the means by which we might manage our way
to an ecological civilisation, ‘For the Common Good’ (Daly and Cobb, 1989).
8. Neoliberalism
Miriam Green (Icon College of Technology and Management)
Neoliberalism is a concept currently in much use to typify ideologies and practices developed in
the last three or so decades encouraged by the Thatcher and Reagan governments and taken to
much further lengths today, for example in the calculative way benefits claimants are assessed. It
has been regarded as all-pervasive, not only concerned with economic principles but also
transcending ethical, social, political and educational considerations. This has been compared with
classical liberalism which while advocating minimal economic ‘interference’ from the state, was still
concerned with the development of individual liberty and / or equality in society.
This track calls for papers that enquire into the links between neoliberalism and other –isms.
Possible topic areas include:
• the exploration of the philosophical origins of liberalism and neoliberalism, in order to establish
more clearly the similarities and differences between them conceptually,
• differences between neoliberalism and liberalism could also be unpacked in terms of their
ideologies and practices as implemented in the UK, or in other countries by successive
governments,
• an in-depth examination of current UK and / or US or other governments’ neoliberal practices
could be made, showing its influence and effects in various areas such as welfare, the courts,
the legal system and prisons and education (e.g. the university system and academic
scholarship in the management area),
• neoliberalism in the workplace, with particular reference to management thinking and strategy,
• the impact of neoliberal policies on the workforce,
• an examination of the claim that neoliberalism has become all pervasive in the UK, the US
and / or other societies in the West. Alternative or complementary analyses might for example
use explanations based on Foucauldian, post-Marxist or postmodernist theories.
9. Business and society
Rod Thomas (Newcastle Business School)
Seventy years ago Karl Popper made an important contribution to liberal thought and social and
political philosophy: the two-volume work The Open Society and Its Enemies (OSE). Proposals are
invited on the broad theme of business and society including on any of the OSE’s multitude of
themes.
-
-
The connections between political philosophy, business management, and leadership.
Who should rule? Principles of legitimacy in the managed business organization, including
managerless business organizations.
Doing business in open, closed, civil society.
Open, closed and civil society – do these concepts apply within a managed business
organization?
Toleration, respect and dialogue in a managed business organization.
Philosopher kings, somebodies, and nobodies in the managed business organization.
Superstition, taboo, dogma in a managed business organization.
Philosophies and theories of social change and evolution in the managed business
organization.
Any Popper ‘ism’ you like: collectivism, individualism, economism, essentialism, utopianism,
cosmopolitanism, historicism, authoritarianism, totalitarianism, equalitarianism, rationalism:
relevance and applicability to the managed business organization.
Doing business in an age of mass migration between societies.
Paying for civil society.
Corruption in civil society.
Business, politics, the state and the super state: Business for Britain, Business for New
Europe, Mind your own business?
The future of open, closed and civil society.
10. Divers
David Carl Wilson (Webster University)
This open track welcomes papers on any aspect of philosophy of management and from within any
cultural or philosophical tradition.