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REASON IN PRACTICE
The Journal of Philosophy of Management

SPECIAL ISSUE: CALL FOR PAPERS


Special Issue:  Co-operative Working, Group Decision Making and Philosophy
of Management

Guest Editors: Tony Gear and Leonard Minkes

It has long been widely recognised that many of the decisions that affect
the policies of organisations are made in groups.  Even in hierarchical
organisations with powerful control from the centre, there has to be a flow
of information to the centre from formal and informal ‘assemblies’ of
individuals working within formal and informal groupings.  As far back as
1969, Adrian Cadbury, in his Nuffield Lecture at Leicester University, put
forward the idea that within the business corporation of the future, there
would be a pattern of transient, task-orientated groups, set up to deal with
given business problems.

Economic thought and the study of management have become increasingly
influenced by the recognition that decisions are made in organisations and,
hence, through organisational processes.  This has led to recognition of the
complexity of decision making in an organisational context and interest in
How Institutions Think, as Mary Douglas put it in her book with that title.
It has also led to an interest in the idea of decision making as the
resolution of conflict and to the use of various methods, including group
decision support systems, designed to facilitate interactive communication
within groups.

From the point of view of philosophy of management, this leads to an
emphasis on its transdisciplinary character and to a critique of the
neo-classical emphasis on the economic agent – individual consumer or
business firm – as a rational, maximising entity.  Such an approach has, of
course, an ancestry in the work of people like Herbert Simon, Cyert and
March, Edith Penrose, and Shackle, among others.

Papers are called for offering philosophical treatment of areas such as the
following:

 Implications of organisation for the study of economics and decision
making

 The nature of groups, influences, and interactive communication

 The debate between cognitivists and radical behaviourists, e.g. with
reference to the analysis of consumer demand

 Corporate governance and ‘right behaviour’: responsibility and
accountability in corporations

 Aspects of the ‘knowing organisation’ and ‘organisational learning’

 The resolution of ‘differences’ in co-operative working, for example
ethical considerations, risk factors and differing priorities.

Proposals in the form of case studies, interviews, translations of work new
to English speaking audiences, review essays and literature reviews will
also be welcome.

Contributions should be 4-7,000 words in length.

Timetable

Proposals with abstracts  Due by Friday 23 May

Provisional acceptances  Notified by Friday 20 June

Drafts for refereeing   Due by Friday 19 September

Referee reports    Friday 24 October

Final drafts    Due by Friday 21 November

Publication    January 2004

Please send proposals and abstracts to:

Professor Tony Gear
University of Glamorgan
Llantwit Road
Treforest
Pontypridd RCT
CF37 1DL
UK

Email:  [log in to unmask]

We prefer submissions by email attachment (Word or RTF format).  Please
paste a copy of any attachment in the body of the email in case the
attachment is unreadable.

If submitting on paper, please send three copies, anonymised for
double-blind reviewing, typed double-spaced on one side of the paper with a
floppy disk (in Word format if possible).

Please provide a separate brief resume of the author(s) and full address for
correspondence including phone, fax and email.

Full author guidelines for paper layout and referencing are at:

http://www.managementphilosophers.com/Getting%20Published.htm

Reason in Practice

Now in its third year, Reason in Practice: The Journal of Philosophy of
Management is the established forum for philosophically informed thinking
about management in theory and practice. It seeks to define and develop the
field of philosophy of management. The Journal is read by thinkers,
scholars, teachers, consultants and practitioners in 20 countries. It is for
philosophers working in all traditions, for management thinkers concerned
with the philosophical foundations and validity of their subject and
practising managers seeking to engage with the philosophical issues raised
by what they believe and do. Contributors have included leading
philosophers, management scholars, consultants and managers. It is
independent, international, refereed and appears three times a year.

Further details at   www.managementphilosophers.com/

Guest Editors

Tony Gear

Tony Gear is Professor of  Management and Decision Making in the Business
School at the University of Glamorgan and his previous posts include a
Senior Research Fellowship in Management at Balliol College, Oxford.  His
research interests include Group Interactive Processes, Decision making in
Groups, Technology for Group Process Support, Organisational Learning, Group
Interactive Learning, and Professional Judgement.   He is currently
researching Organisational Learning and the Development of Group Interactive
Technology for use in the professions including reaching professional
judgements in committees and making resource allocation decisions in the
NHS.

His publications include A Guide to Operational Research (1977 with
W.E.Duckworth and A.G.Lockett) and he is co-editor of the Open University
Management in Education Reader 2. Some Techniques and Systems.

Leonard Minkes

Educated at Balliol College, Oxford, Leonard Minkes is Emeritus Professor of
Business Organisation at the University of Birmingham and Visiting Professor
in the Business School at the University of Glamorgan.  His many
publications include The Entrepreneurial Manager. Decisions, Goals and
Business Ideas (1987) and Business Behaviour and Management Structure (1985
with C.S. Nuttall)


PLEASE FEEL FREE TO FORWARD THIS TO ANYONE WHO WOULD BE INTERESTED.  THANK
YOU.


Nigel Laurie
Editor and Publisher
Reason in Practice: The Journal of Philosophy of Management
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