ESSAI - PHILOSOPHIZING ON STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT MODELS

This essai develops a philosophical perspective on managerial cognitio n. More precisely, it offers an epistemological critique of orthodox m odels of strategic management. The critique is based on the confrontat ion of these models with a diverse set of philosophical texts on knowl edge and action. The orthodoxy is composed of the three prescriptive s chools identified by Mintzberg (1990) and considered as explicit colle ctive knowledge. To say nothing of the omission of socio-political for ces at work in strategy formation, three main biases are elicited and discussed: a bias towards thinking to the detriment of other forms of reasoning, a bias towards binary logic, and the failure to recognize f eeling as a source of reason. We suggest that philosophical questionin g - epistemological and ethical - can help practitioners and scholars renew their management models, recipes and theories.