Management as a contextual practice : the need to balance science, skills and practical wisdom Billsberry, Jon and Birnik, Andreas 2010, Management as a contextual practice : the need to balance science, skills and practical wisdom, Organization management journal, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 171-178. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title Management as a contextual practice : the need to balance science, skills and practical wisdom Author(s) Billsberry, Jon orcid.org/0000-0002-3015-4196 Birnik, Andreas Journal name Organization management journal Volume number 7 Issue number 2 Start page 171 End page 178 Total pages 8 Publisher Eastern Academy of Management Place of publication Springfield, Mass. Publication date 2010 ISSN 1541-6518 Keyword(s) profession practical wisdom ( phronesis) ethics Summary This paper contributes to the debate regarding whether or not management is, or should become, a profession. Using the principles of dialectic logic, arguments for the thesis that management is a profession and the antithesis that management is more akin to an art or a craft are critically reviewed. Aristotle’s intellectual virtues episteme (science), techne (skills) and phronesis (practical wisdom) are introduced as a synthesis to this debate. Rather than characterizing management as a profession, it is argued that management is a contextual practice that requires a blend of all three intellectual virtues. Language eng Field of Research 150399 Business and Management not elsewhere classified Socio Economic Objective 970115 Expanding Knowledge in Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services HERDC Research category C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Copyright notice ©2010, Eastern Academy of Management Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30035223 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Business and Law Deakin Business School Related Links Link Description Connect to published version (restricted access) Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Mon, 30 May 2011, 11:04:40 EST Fri, 30 Sep 2011, 14:44:18 EST Thu, 20 Oct 2011, 09:38:27 EST Thu, 20 Oct 2011, 09:39:24 EST Thu, 23 Feb 2012, 13:34:31 EST Thu, 23 Feb 2012, 13:38:56 EST Thu, 11 Dec 2014, 17:07:56 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 0 times in TR Web of Science Cited 18 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 456 Abstract Views, 2 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Mon, 30 May 2011, 11:04:40 EST