Introduction

This book presents a critical, philosophically informed exploration into what, if anything, the world of management and organization — its practice and its study — can learn from the world of art. From the outset I do not argue, as Dobson (1999) has, that management is “best perceived” as an artform; nor do I argue, as Mintzberg (2004) has, that it “appears” like an artform. Rather, in this book, I merely advance a central Art-aesthetic, paradigmatic thesis in which — given the general and growing uncertainties and constraints inherent in running a business in a “real” world — management might, under certain circumstances, be beneficially practiced as an artform. In noting Adler’s (2006:488) comment that, ‘[l]eading business schools worldwide are [now] adding arts-based courses to their curriculum,’ this thesis steps beyond a mere empiric observation of the potential of artists to contribute directly to managerial practice and its teaching. Instead, I seek to use the lens of art to accelerate an understanding of managerial practice. That is to say, the concern of this book’s central thesis is the gaining of an art-like understanding of practice that might provide a beneficial input to the process of management and organizational education. However, as I shall argue, this objective is philosophically problematic from the outset.