THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE and

SCHOOL ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS

Whose Perspectives?

and other Problems of Knowledge

The Theory of Knowledge DiagramWhere is Business and Management?

WAYS OF KNOWING

• Perception• Emotion• Reason• Language• HOW DO THEY PLAY A ROLE IN THE

CONSTRUCTION OF ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS KNOWLEDGE?

PROBLEMS OF KNOWLEDGE

• Sources - bias and subjectivity• Evidence - reliability• Degree of Certainty• Methods and standards of Justification• Whose knowledge?• History of knowledge

PERCEPTION

What we PERCEIVE of the real world is a product of a FILTERING PROCESS involving:

a BIOLOGICAL filter

a COGNITIVE filter which includesa PSYCHOLOGICAL and LINGUISTIC filter

a CULTURAL and VALUES filter

PERCEPTIONS AND KNOWLEDGE CONSTRUCTION

The COGNITIVE FILTER can itself be broken down further into

• a rational filter (“head”) – psychological, linguistic

• an axiological filter (“heart”) – cultural, moral, aesthetic

These filters may take the forms of models, theories, paradigms and value judgements.

Knowledge, paradigms, and the world

Knowledge The worldB

iological Filter

“Head” and “heart” filters**

Knowledge re-shaping the world through human action

**”Head” - LANGUAGE, THOUGHT PROCESSES, “Heart” - CULTURE, VALUES, PARADIGMS and IDEOLOGIES

NATURE OF BUSINESS KNOWLEDGE

• What is the role of intuitions and tacit knowledge in business decisions?

• Can management be taught from a book? Do successful managers know more than they can tell?

• Whose perspective does B&M adopt? • Is the management of organizations an art or a

science?• What roles do emotions and creativity play in

business, and how are they manifested? • Changing assumptions about human beings and

culture in business.

SPECIFIC ISSUES IN B&M THAT CONNECT WITH TOK

• Measuring what we value vs. valuing what we measure. Can quality be reliably captured in quantitative measures?

• Cost-benefit reasoning vs. ethical reasoning in business decisions and strategy

• The reliability of business accounts• Sources of bias in business knowledge• Whose knowledge – management’s or

employee’s? • Others?

ETHICAL ISSUES IN BUSINESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL LIFE

• Can ethical judgments be applied to the behaviour of corporations (as distinct from its managers or other agents)?

• Is it ethical for businesses to develop ethical objectives as a marketing strategy?

• Is it possible to be humane and successful in business at the same time?

WHAT WE CAN DO AS TEACHERS

• Pay special attention to the distinction between technical and non-technical uses of words

• Encourage students to look for the limitations of economic and strategic analysis

• Encourage focus on institutional, behavioural, moral and political assumptions of any analysis

• Encourage students to identify, wherever possible, the gainers and losers from policies.